My great find the night before flying out was to discover that my cheap Lidl pear tree, the one I had been whinging about, is not dead! I had been studying the woody stalks branching out from the main trunk - and truth be told, I do think they are all dead. What I hadn't been looking at was the trunk itself. And there, lo and behold, is where the leaf buddage has been occuring!
There were several other happy things to return home to.
Tulips! Still in bloom, lots of them, although by now they are starting to look at bit tatty but the black and white (purple and cream) ones looked stunning at their peak. They probably had a name, I may even still have the bag with the name on in the shed, but for now I am not going to bother with names.
Oca! Tough clover-leafed stalks are now poking out of the ground, signalling that my yams are starting to grow under the soil. All three types have sprouted, but I'm only seeing evidence of two or three in each bed. Better than none I suppose.
Asparagus! Not in the trench, but the seeds planted in the greenhouse are starting to sprout. Or at least, two of them are. Only tiny now, but in three years time, they will be featuring heavily on my dinner plate.
Strawberries! It's not quite Wimbledon yet, but by the time it is, I'm sure these Honeoye strawberries will be long gone. Thankfully all the strawberry plants look to be thick with flowers, so lots of yummy red fruit to come....
Now for the bad news: the zinnias all died. I don't know why. They were looking good when I went away, but I came back and they were all shrivelled into brown plant corpses. But I won't be deterred - I will plant more seeds. I will have zinnias!
The ugly news: with the onset of spring proper and the bursting of new growth came the return of the unholy trinity: the gastropods, the bindweed and dandelions. Yes, as fast as the little seedlings are poking their heads up out of the soil, the snails are appearing and chewing them down to ugly stumps. From a relatively bindweed-free garden two weeks ago, the weaving weed is wriggling its way up through the heucheras, the strawberries, the lavender - even appearing in the lawn! Dandelions - while I've had some luck pulling plants out with roots intact while gardening after rain, I can't see I'm ever going to beat this problem while my neighbours yard is awash with dandelion puffballs and yellow flowers.
As predicted, the chard has gone to seed and been removed. This is all part of the plan, because the chard was growing over one of the oca beds, so now the oca can grow freely.
I have savoy cabbage seedlings and peas and sweet peas all ready to plant out. I think I have the tallest savoy seedlings in the world - not sure how they will heart up but we'll give it a go. Some of the tomato and chilli seeds have sprouted, and there is evidence that at least some teasel seed was still good.
It's a long weekend ahead, I hope for lots of sun so I can get lots of weeding and seed planting done.
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