The garden is full of spring. At the front of the garden we have the pink cherry with its showy blossom, intermingling with the white blossom of the hawthorn, also known as the May Tree. Here ard there in the garden are three cornered leeks, like white bluebells, the latter around too. The old regulars: marigolds and kerria keep on going. It’s the warmth and longer days that have brought out all these blooms. There’s the red geums by the Fothergill bed and the Irish Pensioners apple tree in bloom. By the small pergola, there’s star of Bethlehem, white starry blooms, which makes me think how many flowers have religious common names. Like marigolds, named after Mary.
There’s borage in the wildflower bed with its blue flowers, marigolds there too. The recently planted wildflower seeds are just showing, but only just. Which makes me think of how little rain we have had this month. Just 3mm. Average for April is 37mm, so we are far below that and our water barrels are emptying. Drought conditions already and so early in the year.
There’s the dangling flowers of the sycamore, which are not that visible, as they are green and the leaves are coming on the trees, all the trees in fact. The large acanthus is a veritable cave of foliage. Deep green leaves, like those of a gigantic oak. If it were wet the snails would be out and munching this plant, chewing it back to its stalks. But the dryness keeps the snails at bay.
In the square bed, near the small pergola, the flax are coming up. About an inch high currently. I water them when I am in the garden. The bed is covered with wooden slats: a bed head and a cot side. They cut out about half the light but they stop foxes digging up the bed. But soon, I shall have to remove them as the plants will be too tall for them to be laid across the bed, and light is needed for full growth. I scattered the seed, I hoped uniformly, but there are thick clusters of the tiny plants in some places. I am wondering whether to thin them out, or leave them. I think the thickest clusters could do with some thinning.
These are flax for linen. It used to be a big industry in Northern Ireland, until the 60s when synthetic fibres took over. But it is coming back, as some are keen to have natural fibres for clothing, table clothes and such. The plan is to make some linen ourselves when the plants are mature, another couple of months yet. Other varieties of flax are used for linseed oil (for paint and oiling cricket bats), and for edible flax seeds. The edible variety need to be ground up or they will pass through the gut undigested. They are good for the heart as they contain omega 3 oil, and for general digestion.
And then we have the pond. In past years, these are the days when it is full of tadpoles, all over the pond, rapid little wrigglers which children love. But not this year. We only have a few, those we have been donated. For some reason our pond got little spawn this year. I suspect cats killed the mature adults, but I can’t prove they are the culprit, it is just my suspicions, given cats kill millions of birds each year.
Either way, the pond is disappointing. More so, because it is plagued with blanket weed, a filamentous algae. This is a common ailment for ponds. There are chemical treatments to remove it, but we will not use these as we are gardening organically with no pesticides or herbicides. So that means removing it by hand, but with care, as tadpoles and various larvae use it for food and shelter. I shall get the pump going again too, and hope the combination cuts it back. It does smother everything, hence the common name blanket weed, cutting out light and stopping other underwater oxygenators from developing. So it is time to dust off the pump, and get out the rubber gloves.
The silver birch has male catkins. I look for the female, but they are not there yet.