Time to dream of gardens......

Blue skies and shining sun means that my little daffodil, the very first one of the Spring of 2011, opened up its petals today!

Look! I didn't even know I had this little crocus in the back garden, but oh, the delight when I saw the purple colour! This is what I love - the surprises in my garden.

I have started amassing some bags of soil. This says it is a planter, but I am using it as potting soil. It was amazing last year, and I am hoping for similar results this year too. One of them is for the tomato greenhouse. That worked brilliantly last summer, and my tomatoes threatened to take over the world. So many. So tasty. And some are still in my freezer.

I started spreading the packets of seeds out on the table this morning to see what I had. Some of the seeds say to plant out now, and some are to be planted indoors. Or under cover. It is that time of year, and I LOVE it. So today, I got 4 trays ready for flowers. I haven't started on the vegetables yet. Another few weeks will be just fine. I am hoping to grow most of the flowers from seeds. And I have so many I saved from last year too. I took a little bowl this morning, and put a mix of seeds into it, and then tossed them into the front flowerbed. What comes up comes up. This is "scattering " taken to extreme!

See the spring bulbs popping up in the front bed????? Loads of daffodils and tulips. And the lilac is in bud too. I can't wait.

I love Spring. I love the moment when I start to get the garden ready. Actually I love the whole garden thing altogether. The dreaming, visualising, planning, doing. My poor little ancient greenhouse with the heavy plastic cover which was decimated this winter, has been pieced together with wide tape. I will make new panels for it when the weather is warmer and I can dismantle the big broken one. That is up and in place, but its days are numbered. However, I can use the plastic to repair my little one, and the shelves around the garden, where some height for troughs is called for. I have little room on the ground left, so I am going UP.

There was a time when I thought gardens were a lot of trouble and we needed the space for the house, so my garden was halved. How could I have known how much gardening would mean to me in future days? How could I have understood the joy I would get from growing things? How could I have dreamed that the peace gardening brings me would soothe my soul? And how could I have thought of the fact that the food I grow would be so essential in frugal times?

Hmmmm. This is so true. We can't see into the future, or know how needs may change, can we. We live in the present. If I look back over the decades though, I can see patterns emerging which I could never have anticipated. Little things learned along the way which I remember now and can use, finally.

If I could build a home the way I would love to now, the plans I once drew up 20 years ago would be redundant. Now things like lofty ceilings, wood, triple glazing, geothermal energy, solar panels, insulation, wood burners and multi purpose space would be a priority. A craft room with walls of shelves too. And a store room big enough to take the boxes of seasonal things, of course! Energy efficient. Grey water. Space for woodwork. Ahhhhh........ dreams are good.

And the garden would be bigger. Not huge, but bigger. With room for my flowers, some fruit trees, and my vegetable garden. Maybe a proper little greenhouse.

Well. Reality is not so bad, though. I can still make my little corner beautiful and fruitful. And I will. It takes a lot more time nowadays, but one thing I did do which has made such a difference, was having raised beds behind retaining walls. So I can garden with relative ease. Pots are good, because I can plant them out on the table and then the hard part is done. Hanging baskets are easy to sort. The watering and feeding is simple.

I love the fact that my garden will grow in a new way each year. There will always be surprises, and usually ones that make me grin. (Providing that pesky rodent family have vacated the premises, of course. Mind you, there seems to be a black cat which has taken up residence on the top of my fence, so that is excellent. I hope he has friends. Many friends.)

Sigh. I am off to look for the other seeds. I want to get the planting order sorted. The sun will be shining all week..........