I almost broke into a trot to get indoors and tick this mighty chore off my long list. The strawberries are done. Not only weeded, but I have planted fifteen more of the little blighters to delight our palettes this year or next.

A distant view of the before shot shows not only grasses, but if you put on your specs you would see clover, brambles, that strange plant that bleeds yellow sap, dying fern fronds, and of course, stinging nettles.  All vying for space in between the strawberry plants.

So down I went onto my kneeler pad and knee protectors, out came the gloves and up they all came. Laboriously, tediously; and accompanied by some rather choice swear words when recalcitrance impeded progress.

By the end of the long row I was almost prone on my side trying to ignore aches and pains.  And that probably explains the stinging nettle attack on my right arm way up near the fig tree.  Yes, there is a small fig tree in amongst all this. A baby (brown turkey variety) that came through the winter unscathed  – probably because it was so wrapped around by fern fronds and brambles.

And the clematis is in thick and vibrant health next to the grape vine. All looking marvellous until all the darn weeds start to grow and it will be back to the start.

Yes, the strawberries are still in their unweeded state.  The heavens opened yesterday and didn’t let up all afternoon. I just went up the rain gauge to see that we have almost had an inch of rain. Perfect for my vegetable garden, not for my weeding.

So today it’s all hands on deck: decking actually.  The encroaching green over the hardwood decking has to be checked. So decked out in rain wear, and pretending it isn’t spitting with rain I have done half the pool.  Some of the pesky grasses have taken root right under the decking (weedproof fabric and all) so they will have to be zapped with round up when it shows signs of sunshine and dry weather.  But the rest came up rather easily.

Once I have imbibed this tea and eaten my bodyweight in biscuits I will charge out and do the rest.

The bulbs in the picture are a surprise.  Last spring I was at the Vernoux weekly market and the lovely cheese lady gave me a handful of mystery bulbs and said – try your luck.  And here they are. A rather pale yellow so far, but most interesting. I planted them right along the edge of the wall behind my pottings shed: the usual repository of mystery plants.  Very close to some white currant cuttings, rose cuttings, and more mystery bulbs. Daffs perhaps? I’m just not sure. Maybe alliums. The good news is I won’t have much longer to wait. Spring has definitely sprung. 

But not in the verbena bonariensis department. I have cut back all of last year’s growth on these tall statuesque plants and found… not a lot of life. Wrong plant for the right place. I have always yearned for a verbena hedge. But looks like the winters are just too tough for this plant up here on the mountain.  Sensible old gaura perhaps?

I always found that when confronted with a difficult writing project twas always best to clean the office first.  Anything to put off the actual task of sitting down and getting that first paragraph right.

And now I find it’s the same with gardening. I have written on my to do list Weed Strawberries since last October.  Every new list the first task to be inked in is weed the strawberries. And I have been putting it off until now.  Why I’m still putting it off. Preferring to size pictures, drink tea, call Sydney,  eat slightly stale hot cross buns… anything but get stuck into the strawberries.

The reason is that getting those lusty weeds out from under the fabric is going to be hard.  Hard on fingers, nails, patience and the roots of the extant strawberries.  When they are fighting for space the weeds seem very adept at wrapping themselves around the roots and seeking the light.  I fear I may lose some plants if I’m to achieve the desired effect.  But it’s Wednesday, it’s overcast, and I have a day to achieve it.

But before I head out; here as some of the fruits of this morning’s procrastinations.  First up was to add a bit more of my mighty horse compost mulch around the plants in the shade garden.  It all looks rather starkly dark now. But in dry weather the mulch will probably disappear into a background of weeds, bark chips and dusty foliage. But it’s a start.

I finished the last three Aquilegias (inspired by seeing the height and growth of Andrew’s ones in his shady garden area). And then decided to circle the strawberry bed by working nearby and thus becoming inspired.

First up the broad beans. At the moment they are under protective cloches; but I do wonder if the cloches are needed. I haven’t had a sighting (or a footstep sighting) of Daisy since mid winter.  And have even raked the soon to be brassica bed just to see if it will lure her in.  She seems to like a freshly raked bit of earth to frolic about in.  Not that I want her to return mind; but it is odd not to have the enemy about.

The only enemy of the broad beans was the cold. I did sow about thirty seeds  in the late autumn to see if they would get an early start for the season.  But by my reckoning, only about four came up.  Not good odds.

The ones I sowed in late February all came up, happily, so I will have a crop.  But I did add a dozen more today just to increase the odds.

Next to the broad beans is a cloche of lettuce. I don’t have the heart to grub them out because they have survived the whole winter unscathed. They taste bitter and vile; but I am keeping them as a sort of mascot for the vegetable garden.  The little lettuces in the potting shed are putting on growth and will replace these hoary old beasts, but not until next month.

And ooh look, it’s raining. Can’t possibly go out into the strawberry bed now.  Shall have an early lunch and try and catch up on this blog instead.

An afternoon of planting out in the potager: not a proper crop, but some scented sweet peas.  It’s a start. And so many of them had germinated that I ended up planting 32 sweet peas beside the bean poles.  And had so many left over I decided to plant them up against the tomato stakes as well.  They tend to flower and go over by late spring anyway, so they won’t crowd out the future tomato plants. Well that’s the plan.

I found a big fat slug on the outside of one of the root trainer pots as I was planting out. And it’s a reminder that all sorts of dangers await these dear little plants.  Needless to say that particular slug isn’t going to do any harm. It’s in half and on the compost heap.

In the potting shed things are warming up beautifully: I potted on swiss chard, sunflowers, cabbage, endless chives and spring onions, and sowed pumpkins, runner beans and climbing French beans.

For a change of scene I have kept at the mulching of the horse manure. The huge stack is slowly dwindling; but now that I have fed all the edibles, I have decided it was time to devote a bit of the compost to the flowers.

The shade garden is a thirsty soil. Sucked dry by the huge chestnut tree above.  So each plant has now been stacked with a few inches of rich compost around all sides.  I don’t have enough to smother the entire area; but it has come a long way from the dust bowl of last year.

It also gave me a chance to weed some of the worst of the unwanted plants.  And to see if anything is coming along. There are a few lilies poking out.  And the thalictrum has come up.  But amazingly I can see some sign of life on the anemanthele lessonias.  The poor grasses took quite a beating over the winter, but they are not entirely dead. That’s cause for joy.

You can ignore the fleeting April shower that makes you dash to a tree or the potting shed for a few moments while the clouds scud past. But the hail storm that peppered the mountain was enough to bring me indoors for tea. Only 5:30pm and it feels as though I need to call a halt to play for the day.   And a shame too as I was planting out the Aquelegia Green Apples under the mirbabelle trees in the garden when I had to escape.

This has been an action packed day out in the garden: lots of things ticked off the list.  I have mulched all the trees in the orchard and even had enough to add to the burgeoning jostaberries and black currants in the lower orchard as well.  I have risked everything by not fencing these small plants off.  No doubt I will pay for it later if any passing animal decides to try juicy fruit as a change of diet.  But for now I will keep them unfettered.

As I was down in this part of the farm I decided to sort out the honeysuckle that has seem to have taken off up agains the stable wall.  Two levels of wires now attached; and if all goes well, this plant might just thrive.  And improve the rather stark nature of this wooden stable wall.  Needless to say they too managed to win a large spade load of thick mulch.

Up at the potager I noticed that the radish seeds sown only a few weeks ago were up and off.  And crowded.  So I have thinned them out. And then couldn’t possibly throw away the extra seedlings. Up to the potting shed and then a happy hour ensued by planting them up and wishing I had more space / more pots / more time / more daylight to get everything done.

As you can see, there is quite a little industry here at the moment.  I seem to collect lists on scraps of paper that carefully record just what I have sown and potted on.  But they don’t relate to any particular day so I might as well make it today’s achievement: so the tally of sown plants are runner bean aintree, climbing bean blue lake, courgette soleil, cucumber BTG (oh yes, burpless tasty green), basil, scallop squash mix, verbena bonariensis.

And potted on: tomatoes, swiss chard, sunflowers, nasturtiums, cabbage, cavallo nero. Bound to be more, but I tend to get so involved in the sowing and the potting that I plum forget to write and record.

On the grasses front, I have divided some of the mightier eragrostis curvula plants down on the low terrace below the pool.  Thick and tough, I hope they won’t sulk after my clumsy attempts at dividing them.  I have planted seven more in the bank. And if the thirty or so that might have survived the winter come into growth this week, I shall plant them as well.

And I have done two more miscanthus for the future hedge down near the lawn. I transplanted them from the courtyard edge. They weren’t thriving being too close to the mighty giant stipa plant. The name should have warned me it would take off and spread.  But one rarely learns.

To finish the day I have loaded up the wheelbarrow with all the plants I want to put into the potager tomorrow: the sweet peas, tarragon, parsley, marjoram and chives.

I then went down to check on the horses to see they have enough water for the night and give them an apple each . Cheeky things, they were lying down on the job. Ulysse didn’t even bother getting up to be fed his Braeburn crunchy treat.

Er, that’s me. No four legged help in the complicated bits: just the trusty mower getting its first run out of the year. Main lawn, orchard, walnut walk up to the top potager. Bits in between. Lovely to have the ear protectors on again and getting stuck into those straight lines. Hmm, maybe I’m a bloke.

Wonderful addition to the lower terraces: Ulysse and Spirite.  Jean Daniel brought them over tonight and spent an hour or so checking on the fencing and then let them loose.

Here it is: a real burst of spring. I owe you lots of pictures from the last trip (oh guilt) but here is a taster of this week’s joyous riot of growth. This is the half wine barrell slap bang in the middle of my lower vegetable bed.  Tulips (three varieties) and wallflowers. Fighting for space. That’s what I love to see.