Suddenly the weather has turned into practically perfect. Lovely! Everyone has started spring cleaning, my neighbourhood echoed with the sound of drills and power saws. All those boys have come out to play with their toys. So I fled to Hunky Dory for some peace and quiet, and for the pruning of my tiny orchard.
I have been brutal! Perhaps a little too brutal...we'll see what happens. The apples are so-so anyway, I cannot ruin much about those trees I inherited from the previous allotmenteer.
But it was great to be able to take off my coat and sweater, and chop for an hour. The birds were chirping away, wonderful.
I put half of the branches on my dwindling woodpile next to the frog pond, and the other half on the compost heap. I know the latter is not ideal, it will take years for those branches to disappear. But I simply have nowhere else to put them. Although...I am contemplating making a dead hedge from them. I do have space underneath my rickety wooden fence. And I know small mammals and birds love those hedges to hide in. Actually, now that I telling you my thoughts, I have decided: a dead hedge is what I will construct!
You know what a dead hedge is, right? No? It is a 'hedge' constructed from cut off branches, by ramming some stakes into the ground (my soil necessitates ramming!). And then you layer the branches in between, so you get a hedge-like structure.
Meanwhile I saw that some of the insects had woken up. A yellow butterfly danced past; they are always the first ones to appear. We call it citroenvlinder (Gonepteryx rhamni) and for me the sight of it means yes, finally, winter is on its last legs!
But I spotted a few Ladybirds as well, a very welcome sight. I do have to be careful of their larvae though...last summer I turned out to be allergic to their bite/venom. My hand swelled up until it resembled a baseball glove.
Happy, happy. My many daffs make me very happy.
As do these primulas. They are a bit nibbled, but never mind. They brighten up this patch of border until the large swathes of daffs kick in, and the early bees love them.
I planted the tall stemmed variety next to the frog pond, but they have disappeared...You know, if I received a Euro for every plant I put in this garden which has simply disappeared, I would have no money problems anymore!
This Teucrium I took from my balcony to Hunky Dory last October, thinking hey ho, I will see what happens. And wow, not only did it survive those weeks of frost, but it is now starting to flower along with the bulbs! Absolutely fabulous!
Oh, I do adore a blue sky! I will have to do something about my greenhouse though...last Summer all my plants scorched in there. So either I will have to paint the windows with chalk, or I will have to put up shading nets. The latter is probably much more expensive.
It being the third day running with temperatures of 16°C yesterday (March 6th), I could not stop myself from clearing the rest of the balcony and putting the railing planters back up. So you can bin the top half of this blog post; sorry.
My wallflower backs me up! "Why wait", it is shouting, "good times are here!"
Just to put me back on my feet, today started misty with 4°C... Oh well.
Every time I look at my cheerful planters, I feel my spirit lift. Puck is happy as well, she knows that the months where she can wander onto the balcony at will are finally here again. Drinking out of the tiny pond, bliss for her, hahaha.
If you'd like to visit my website, here is the link: Renée Grashoff Schrijft
Take care, wherever you are!
Renée Grashoff
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