Early last Saturday, a lovely sunny day, Bill suddenly had the urge to prune. This urge had been thwarted by wet weather and the grapes, the kiwi and the roses were nagging at him. But Saturday had come up sunny and perfect for pruning. I’m sure he also wanted a break from the computer, where he has been almost chained, recreating our web site. Yes, soon our web site will be totally refreshed and gorgeous. And Bill has had to learn all sorts of new software in order to do it. Hire someone to do our web site? Not us. Totally self-sufficient, us. But that’s another story.
And I, having been attacked by sinusitis and all the attendant coughing causing far too many muscle spasms, did not help him with this pruning. Instead I poked around in the garden, armed with my digital camera, looking for signs of spring. Did I already say how much I love digital cameras? Well, I’m saying it again.
We don’t clean up the garden in the fall. We just walk away and leave it all to the birds. And all winter I see them busy eating seeds and berries in the garden. Case in point was the cardoon. Last fall we just left it and I saw birds on the seed heads often. And look, a sign of spring, new cardoon already coming up.
We rake up some leaves for the compost in the fall but we also leave a lot on the flower beds to compost naturally. Apparently this is good because it allows a lot of beneficial insects to over winter in the garden. I don’t worry about slugs, we have so many birds that I hardly ever find slugs. And did I find more signs of spring in the garden? Oh yes.
Our oriental poppies are spreading, always a welcome sight.
The day lilies have made a start.
The rhubarb, with crinkly leaves already unfurling is pushing it’s red stalks up already.
When Bill pruned the peonies, we found they had already sprouted.
And my palm tree, my claim to the tropics in my garden, has come through this mild winter so well.
Last winter, so cold and snowy had it losing quite a few leaves. So, Ok, I admit, the palm tree is not a sign of spring as much as a sign of the end of a very welcome kind winter. And that’s the best kind of spring.
Tags: cardoon seeds, cardoon sprouting, oriental poppies sprouting, Pruning grapes, pruning peonies, rhubarb sprouting, signs of spring
There are real signs of spring in your garden - I love all the new green shoots on the day lilies. I noticed my own peony was starting to show new shoots - Yeay - winter is nearly over!
K
I remember the excitement of seeing new green shoots in the garden, and I imagine it is quite thrilling for you and Bill to see them in January! I’ve never eaten cardoon and don’t recall ever seeing it in food stores, but understand it has a rich artichoke flavour with a hint of lemon, and the only breed I know of is Italian - called Gobbo di Nozzo. What variety is yours? Lots of interesting recipes on the web, but the best is on http://www.mariquita.com, site of Mariquita (meaning ladybug) Farm in California. Apparently cardoons provide excellent habitat for ladybugs. How do you and Bill cook your cardoon? Happy gardening!
Hi Karen, It’s feeling like spring too. I imagine our climate here in Victoria, which is probably the most temperate in Canada, is much like yours in Wales. We’ve been so lucky here with no snow, except for the Olympics, I guess.
Hi Marianne, Would you believe we’ve never cooked the cardoon? We’re just happy to admire it’s height and loveliness. I’m not sure what kind it is, got it, as usual, at a garage sale.
Okay, finally I’m feeling inspired to get out there to prune and dig and pull… I knew there was a reason I checked out your blog on this suddenly sunny afternoon. Where are the clippers?