We’re lucky enough to have a spacious garden, but if I only had room for one fruit tree it would be a greengage.  Not just for the delicious fruit that you don’t often see in the shops, but because the blossom is exquisitely beautiful.  Not in an in-your-face-look-at-me kind of way (although I like those too!) but for its simple, graceful presence. I love this blossomy time of year when everything is bright green and fresh, even in these tough times I find it’s hard not to feel hopeful and happier, I hope you do too.

Many years ago (10?  15?) time flies) we decided to have a go at making a meadow among the sliver birch trees at the front. It sounds easy, doesn’t it, surely you only have to let the grass grow? Well  it seems not.

Much dedicated early reading gave us loads of meadow-making advice.  Remove all the turf, or sow yellow rattle to weaken the grass.  That’s because grasses eventually swamp other meadow plants when they are tiny.  Get your mowing regime sorted to chime with the dropping of meadow flower seeds, usually August time depending on the species of plant.  And choose your plants carefully to suit your plot: soil type, shady,  damp or dry – you get the picture.  And finally be patient, it can take at least 7 years to establish.  They weren’t kidding.

Some plants are now looking great, especially the spring bulbs.  The native daffodil, often called the lent lily, and snakes’ head fritillaries looked lovely this year: both have been seeding around to make gorgeous groups. Other plants are still slow to make their presence felt: I imagined a sea of beautiful white wood anemone by now: some progress has been on that front but we’re not quite there yet.

However nature did play its part and, with some encouragement from me we have some spontaneous arrivals:  buttercups, a wild sweet pea, knapweed and  the inevitable celandine are all flowering and looking good.  I sowed the aforementioned yellow rattle and also a generous handful or two of the biennial wild carrot: both are thriving. A trip to the wildflower farm at Langar www.naturescape.co.uk  last month got us some good purchases and at £12 for 4 decent wildflower plants not bad value. As a result we now have bloody cranesbill, white musk mallow, creeping bellflower and ragged robin living with us, hopefully for a long time. I confess I bought the cranesbill for its name alone!  A kind pal donated a huge tray of ox eye daisy that was taking over her garden (I wish!). These have been planted with care by our great new gardener, Euan. Our meadow is of the shadier, damp variety so whether they will thrive is questionable, but hey, they were given in friendship and for free and time will tell.  A lengthy search for some wild orchid seeds has been successful and has now got me excited; a tiny packet of seeds that look like dust has arrived. At £14 for 3.500 not bad value either, assuming any germinate of course.  Wish me luck!

The Spring bulbs have been wonderful this year.  Just coming into their own in  mid April as I write is a group of ‘West Point’ tulips, hopefully soon jostling stylishly amongst a drift of cow parsley. The best laid plans and all that…

Enjoy your garden and don’t forget: time spent weeding now will save you hours of work later on.