31st March

I went to the allotment after work with the aim of planting out my onion sets in the ground that has been warmed under the plastic sheet. First I had to dig out the weeds that have been thriving in such good, warm soil – bindweed being the worst, as well as grass and dandelions. There was also a multitude of little annual weed seedlings that resisted a scrape from a trowel. Anyway, after a good 90 minutes, it was high time to get home for tea, so the plastic sheet was replaced and the onions were taken back home for another day, although I had finished the weeding.

 

After tea, my wife presented me with a no occasion present, the book ‘Your Allotment’ by Clare Foster. Wow, what a wife! It was being sold by one of those bookclubs at our 4 year olds’ preschool playgroup and she ordered it for me a couple of weeks ago. It was good timing as, on this last day of March, I have finished the April edition of Gardeners’ World magazine (well, if they send it out 9 days before the end of the month, what do you expect?).

 Traditionally I am not one to go on about the weather. When I used to work in the NHS I would have to listen to 20 moans a day from a succession of patients. I would say ‘good morning’, or ‘good afternoon’ and the reply would be a typical ‘what’s good about it?’ or similar. It was always too cold, too damp, too misty, too dry, too hot, too humid or too changeable. Typical English! I am not the sort of person whose state of happiness is dependant on the weather. When my wife and I were on holiday in Greece, we had a 3 day storm blow over the resort. We woke one morning to hear the birds singing and concluded that the rain must have stopped. We drew back the curtains to find out that it was still pouring but we coined a little phrase we now say to others: ‘birds sing whatever the weather’. I’m not saying I am an incredibly positive and life-affirming person akin to Father Christmas on pep-pills, it's just that I allow other things to make me miserable and the weather is not one of them – well not unless I plan to go to the allotment and it starts to rain a few hours before I can get away from work. Anyway, the point of this little ramble is to say that because I don’t usually go on about climatic conditions, I had misunderstood the phrase ‘in like a lion, out like a lamb’ to be referring to April, whereas apparently it concerns March. Well I’ve noticed that it has been quite true this month. The icy winds, the numb fingers, the rain that we seemed to have had since last June were certainly lion like, but this last week has been a joy. It has been great to be out in the garden without getting chilly (OK I’m not in shorts and T-shirt yet).

Next post: 2nd April