It’s mid-May and the garden is looking absolutely stunning. It really is the most beautiful time of year, when everything around me feels at its very peak of vibrancy and life.
The woodland that surrounds the house is made up of beech, ash and chestnut. The chestnut is in flower at the moment, with beautiful white candle-like blooms rising from the tops of the branches, while the beech has that wonderful almost lime-green hue it carries for such a short time in spring.
Because we’re quite close to the coast, a lot of the plants in the gravel garden really enjoy the climate. The sea kale is in flower too, delicate sprays of tiny white petals that tumble from the plant if you brush past them. The sea thrift is vibrant pink and white, and all the oxeye daisies are just about to burst open, their buds poised on long stems, ready to turn into a sea of yellow and white.
The bay trees are full of tender young growth after a winter of hard, crackly leaves, and the hawthorn is still clinging on in the hedgerows. It’s been a proper hawthorn winter, they say. For me, it’s one of the most beautiful native plants we have.
We still haven’t mown the lawn yet this May, so it has become a sea of little daisies. From certain angles it almost looks like snow.
Lots of the herbs are coming back strongly too, sage, oregano and delicate young mint leaves. Artichokes are popping up here and there, some self-seeded, others spreading as they tend to do. Their purple-red heads sit atop sharp silvery stems and catch the light beautifully. Everywhere feels full of colour at the moment.
What I’m especially pleased to see though is all the elderflower this year. Sprays of frothing ivory flowers pepper the banksides and hedgerows in huge clusters. Thankfully, the weather has stayed fairly dry over the last week or so, which means the flowers are still in really good condition. As long as the rain holds off, there should be plenty for cordial and cooking.
In the vegetable garden, things are coming along nicely too. We’ve had a bumper crop of asparagus this year, which has been deeply satisfying because it’s one of those vegetables that has been almost completely hassle-free. We planted the crowns years ago and every spring, without fail, they return with beautiful sweet spears. We’ll probably get one more decent harvest before letting the plants rest and recover for next year.
Somewhat controversially, I’ve decided to plant purple sprouting broccoli and kale over the dormant asparagus bed once harvesting finishes. My thinking is that not much really happens there from late spring onwards while the crowns recover beneath the soil, so perhaps I can make use of the space with some shallow-rooted plants above. Whether it works or not remains to be seen, but gardening has always involved a bit of experimentation. I’d be interested to hear what others think.
The potatoes are all in now and looking fantastic. We’ve mainly gone with maincrop varieties this year, so they’ll carry us through later into the season. ‘Kestrel’ is one of the varieties I’ve gone for, also my favourite kind of bird! The carrots, however, still aren’t doing brilliantly in the raised beds. Oddly, the very first year we filled them with fresh compost, the carrots were excellent, but since then they’ve never quite been the same. Still, they’re coming along slowly enough.
Elsewhere there are beautiful lettuces, broad beans, runner beans, beetroot, radishes and plenty of chard all beginning to establish themselves properly. We’ve also got courgettes, mustard leaves and celeriac going in now too.
Inside the greenhouse, all the tomatoes have finally gone in, which always feels like a real turning point in the season. We’re growing some lovely varieties this year. Sunfired Flare is a beautiful dark beefsteak tomato streaked with orange and red, almost black in places. Then there’s an old favourite of mine, Paul Robeson, a richly flavoured dusky red heirloom variety with almost cult status among tomato growers. I’ve also sown Black Cherry, which produces large trusses of small dark fruits with wonderful sweetness.
The cucumbers and gherkins are looking good too. Few things taste better than a properly homegrown cucumber, still cool from the greenhouse. And if the gherkin harvest is as good as I’m hoping, there should be plenty for pickling later in the year. I’ve also got lots of hot chillies growing away in pots on the greenhouse shelves, I’ve had mixed results with chilli plants, but fingers crossed this year my efforts pay off.
And finally, there’s a new project beginning to take shape. For years now I’ve wanted to replace the old deer fencing around the vegetable garden with a proper stone wall. I’ve always loved the feeling of enclosed kitchen gardens, and I think it would look so much better as well as being more practical, keeping out rabbits and stopping weeds creeping through from outside.
I’m in the process of talking with a local stonemason about it all now. There’s quite a lot involved, foundations, sourcing stone and planning the build itself, but I’m excited by the thought of it. I’m even hoping there might eventually be room for a small shed in one corner with a simple tin roof where I can finally keep all the tools that currently end up piled into the greenhouse.
Anyway, it’s been a very good season so far, and I’ll keep you updated as things move along, particularly on the garden wall front