There! Spring!

Didn't I just blog about there being winter? It was about 24 hours that the white winter wonderfulness lasted - and then we transitioned right back into rather spring-like weather. It is getting closer to spring for now, really - there's the early flowers getting ready, the rose is showing first leaves, the peach tree as well. The first tomato seedlings have broken soil, too.

[caption id="attachment_5080" align="alignnone" width="640"] The first irises are blooming - I really love these, and they ring in spring for me more than snowdrops and narcissus.


Which means it's high time to finish pruning the willows (which is almost done, there's just a few stragglers left to take care of).

The willows are looking really gnarly in some parts, and some of them have grown to astonishing dimensions width-wise, while their direct neighbours are still rather slender rods, or have actually dried out and died. Some places have four strong, thick ones right beside each other, and some have one thick one and three thinner ones, and I really can't find a rhythm or reason behind this.

[caption id="attachment_5079" align="alignnone" width="640"] The willow fence - you can see that there's different thicknesses. There's no real reason for them to be so different, though...


The low arch that you can see at half height of the photo is the most problematic bit, and we're often having to replace the top of the arch with new shoots bent in, as that part tends to die off during the year - even if it had been growing strong for several years before. That's probably due to growing mechanics, so not much that can be done about it. (Should you be planning to plant a living willow fence, try to go for pointy arches, so the end point of every single element is the highest point of it, and not on a flat slope.)

While this is going on, I'm also trying to get some semblance of order into the garden before, as every year, everything deteriorates with the "I am not finding time to do stuff" syndrome that hits me in summer. For now, I'm really enjoying the early spring garden work. It's a welcome excuse to make the lunch break a little longer, or to have a bit of time in the afternoon to get off the computer and soak up some sunshine outside, and have a breath of fresh air...