Wednesday 8 April 2015

Signs of Spring

The passage of the seasons is inexorable. The signs of Summer-to-come are here already...

The buds on the Pear tree  are swelling. For years now I have been referring to my Pear tree as a "Confrerence" one, but while I was taking this photo I happened to glance at the label which is still attached to the tree. Guess what? It's a "Concorde"! Judging by the fruit, they seem very similar.




Along the fence by the fruit trees the Raspberries are shooting up strongly. In the Autumn I took a bit of a gamble and emptied-out the compost from my tomato pots along here. You may recall that I had problems with contaminated compost last year, but in the end I concluded that it was the multi-purpose compost that was to blame, and not the stable manure stuff. I'm hoping that the thick layer of stable manure compost will be beneficial to the moisture-loving Raspberries.


The first of the Tulips is showing a little splash of colour:


There is definitely new growth on the Lavender.


The Clematis is just beginning to wake up. I didn't prune it at all in the Autumn, so hopefully I will get more flowers than last year's solitary bloom!


This is very characteristic of Spring too - the native Primrose:


Yet despite the above, THIS is the most encouraging sight of all - the emergence of the first Asparagus spear of the season!


Looking back at my records, I see that the Asparagus is about a fortnight behind its normal schedule. In 2014 I actually picked four spears on 7th April. Still they say that "what's worth having is worth waiting for", and home-grown Asparagus is definitely worth having!

8 comments:

  1. It won't be long now until you're picking that asparagus. It's amazing how everything seems to have come on in leaps and bounds over the last week or so, I noticed a hawthorn hedge this morning which I pass when I'm walking Archie and it was covered in leaves, I'm sure it was bare last week.

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  2. I enjoy reading your blog, thanks for doing it. I remember the contaminated compost.
    Wayne May from Nottingham.

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  3. Your first shot looks a little like a bird claw don't you think? I keep the labels on my fruit trees too, the varieties of my pear trees escape me at the moment but I shall take a look. Great news that your asparagus is starting to poke through, mine might be in a couple of weeks then!

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  4. Whoohoo for asparagus. I wish I could grow it here, but it seems asparagus doesn't like my garden. Though I think I have a few still alive. I might get lucky and they might grow up.

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  5. Slow is the name of the game when it comes to springs arrival this year - I have yet to see any promising new green shoots coming up anywhere; hopefully not too much longer. What a welcome sight that 1st (and 2nd and 3rd...) spear must be. Can't wait to get to my first spears in a few years...hopefully nothing thwarts my efforts in the meantime.

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  6. Enjoyed going through your photos. For us there aren't such obvious signs but right now the new leaves on the trees look very refreshing.

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  7. I am happy to say we are NOT under snow any more. But we are quite a bit behind... Time marches on....

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