The gardening season is well under way.
I'm back working with all my regular clients together with a new customer. Already I'm enjoying this new garden as the work will not only consist of maintenance activities, but helping the owner consider and implement some changes to the borders.
It's been very busy since mid March as all my client's gardens have needed loads of clearing/tidying to do.
The seasonal gardening job at Snowshill National Trust holiday cottages also features in my weekly garden visits. As there are 5 gardens to look after there has been much to catch up with, given that the gardens remained untended since I left them last year in early December.
Health wise this year hasn't been the best, a short list since mid January:
January - Cold/virus - knocked me hard for a week and a half.
Early April - Pulled back muscle(s) (1 day work lost).
Early April - Some ugly cold/virus - razor blade throat and major chest cough - approx 2 weeks in duration (1 week work lost).
So, now that I'm back to some degree of health normality I'm hopeful that the year ahead will be kinder to me.
With some settled weather this month it's been a pleasure to be working outside. Seeing spring arrive, with the glorious colours and fresh foliage appearing everywhere. I've managed a few visits to the allotment and so far the early potatoes are in. Onion sets are in pot trays at home, just starting to grow. I've learned the usual hard way that planting sets in open allotment ground is a fraught experience. Birds tend to get interested in new green shoots appearing and pull out the sets just as they start growing and in the past I've lost quite a few sets that way. So like most things destined for the allotment I start things off at home first in trays/pots. The allotment is a wild place....
I'm on Twitter and was interested to spot a new gardening group start up called @Oldhorts. This is a group of like minded gardeners interested in sharing their experiences. The organiser of this has also set up a network group called Old Horts at http://groupspaces.com/OldHorts. This looks like an interesting initiative which I've joined in with. As I understand, interest in Horticulture with the younger generation is at a fairly low level, so anything that the established horticulture/gardening fraturnity can do to encourage each other and our youth has to be a good thing.
