Seedlings. Bare feet on warm paving slabs. Watering cans. The smell of wet earth. Potato plants breaking through the surface. Netting to keep squirrels and birds away. Canes ready for supporting tomatoes, sweetpeas, beans. Sunflowers.
Daffodils, tulips, grape hyacinth.
White labels telling me what is where. Courgettes which double in size over night.
Sunlight in my Spring kitchen.........
Orange cake - delicious. Vee, I have asked the chef for the recipe, so it is pending. Can I add that the chef also made parsnip soup for lunch and a haddock and spinach risotto for supper? Splendid.
It tastes amazing when warm.
A warm-ish day. Jean and I went off to get some vital essentials from the DIY superstore nearby this morning. I knew she wanted soil for her son's new vegetable garden so I went along for the ride. Isn't it remarkable that every able-bodied, young, strong male is suddenly otherwise occupied when 125litre bags of soil need to be lifted? Bless her cotton socks, a young girl came to help lift 5 huge bags onto the trolley, and then, after the cashier called for assistance loading it into the car, an elderly gent approached. He was mumbling about the amazing disappearance of all young men when called for as well.
Anyway,.he managed to heave everything into the car for us. Jean and I were extremely relieved. And THEN, as we approached the village, she asked whether the soil should go down to the allotment or to home.
I was sitting there gaping like a fish. What? The soils was for her son. No, she said, I never SAID it was for him. It is for the allotment. Huh?? Crazy. My friends are all crazy. Lovely. Generous. Thoughtful. But mad. I was quite happy waiting for a couple of weeks. I was blown away by her gift.
Anyway, after a coffee and cake interlude, (while I struggled to stop gaping) Diana joined us and we trundled down to the allotment, where we discovered that the chickens had been eating corn, and that their straw and manure in the bottom of the raised beds was now sprouting CORN in my beautiful beds. So we yanked it all out, and managed with the wheelbarrow, to get the new bags into the beds. They are perfect. Finished. Awaiting their seedlings. I chatted to a couple of the older gents who spend their days tending their allotments (and chickens) and they are all super-impressed with my raised beds. So am I.
And I have the world's best friends too.
Mum had another dentist appointment this afternoon, and as I waited for her, I was paging through a magazine and happened to read a really interesting article. More about that tomorrow...............
5 comments:
Oh I hope Diana agrees. : D
Lovely gift of soil! I'm so sorry that the young men all skedaddled. I think I might have to mention it to the store. Surely they have hires for that kind of help. Otherwise, I've decided that I have become invisible. So, on days when John is busy, I try to be sure to shop with my daughter. Amazingly, she never has a problem getting help.
You seem headed for being able to feed the entire community! Glad that you're having fun.
What an amazing friend she is and what a wonderful and useful gift she gave to you. Treasure, for sure.
I'm so glad the sun is shining for your planting.
How fun. No putting anything in here yet - weather has been too strange. But tonight the sun is out - and I should be away to enjoy just a bit of it from the warmth of the 3 season room. So glad you are having fun.
Interesting observation about the help - I think it's the same here in Canada! And more and more of the clerks are 65+ it seems to me, which means some things are harder for them to do but I do think working in retail makes for interesting days and flexible hours for people. The snow is melting here but it's still 0 degrees at night so planting is several weeks away still :(
Aww!
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