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Thursday 29 March 2018

Happy Easter 🐣

I'm celebrating Easter with great big bucketfuls of compost. It's an unusual way to go I know. But here's the thing: it's the first time I've ever successfully cooked up compost in my back yard, so for me it's a really big deal.




I love the idea of taking kitchen waste and turning it into the good stuff (for plants!). I've found that loose tea leaves are a great all round catalyst to get the show started. Having learnt that tea bags contained plastic seams I quickly did a turn around, and went back to the lovely ritual of tea pots, tea leaves and strainers. And once we're all done with the Rosie Lee we've got a pot of big blousy tea leaves all ready for the worms to get chomping on. We have a bean to cup coffee machine (yes we've got a serious caffeine habit), and I tend to empty the coffee grinds straight onto the soil, digging them in every now and then to give it an immediate humus burst. In my mind's eye it's like one of those vitamin-shot smoothies that virtuous types drink.


 I'm also really happy because my rhubarb is sprouting. I've had a tough time of it in the past keeping rhubarb alive in my garden. I think it's something to do with with the very heavy London clay that dries out like concrete in the summer. It had sprouted before the last fall of snow, and I was crestfallen when it died back after the cold. I've got my fingers crossed that it won't get hit again by bad weather until the autumn. P-l-e-a-s-e let there be sunshine ... .


And I'm also really happy that my new auricula plants have made it through the cold spell. I'd bought them back in January and hadn't expected conditions to be quite so severe as they have been. I've got some other auricula plants that I inherited - via my grandma and my mum - from my great-grandma. I know I do tend to go on about that, but they really are very special to me. They're a nice tie to the long line of enthusiastic amateur gardeners from whom I've descended, and, in the unlikely event that our garden suddenly self-combusted, their pot is the one I'd grab as I fled the flames for safety.


And, finally I'm really glad that the wonderful daffodils on Ealing Common have survived the snow. Our last snowfall seemed to come at totally the worst time for them: just as they were budded and ready to give us some serious yellow welly. They're one of the shorter stemmed hybrids, so they didn't buckle and break under the weight of the snow, and they now look splendidly spring-like.


So whatever you're doing, and whatever you believe in I'm wishing you a very happy Easter/ Spring break.

All the best for now,

Bonny x

2 comments:

  1. Oh, Bonny, what a cheery sight! I love to see daffodils en masse and they look fabulous. It reminds me of being back home where they were planted and naturalised along the roadsides. Spring bulbs seem to be a rare sight here, as not many people bother with gardens, but I’m hoping that we will have some when the snow finally goes - we planted some bulbs last autumn. Glad your auriculas survived that cold snap. Happy Easter! Marie x

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  2. Happy Daffodils, they make me smile.

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