Let’s do this together
I know the school summer term has started because The Dark Lord has made a slight concession to the warmer weather and is now wearing short-sleeved white shirts.
I have also set aside my winter black clothes, in favour of my black spring clothes. It will be June before I am able to properly contemplate anything pastel, and even then, it will probably be grey.
It was this year’s first proper warm sunny day at the weekend and I tentatively stepped out into the back garden to assess the damage.
Proper gardeners will have been lovingly sheltering and coaxing their plant babies through the winter. I just employ The Hunger Games method – whatever makes it through to the new season, it’s game on.
While most people can tell the difference between a weed and a flower, I have to wait until I’m completely sure it’s not about to burst into bloom before I dig it out. Which means that all my flower beds are a bit of a pick ‘n’ mix.
Mainly though, my weekend chores were scrubbing the layer of green mould and mildew off all the furniture and pots, and even fences.
It seems like a bit of a losing battle – I’d be all for letting our green and beautiful land turn to moss and mould, a bit like the hobbits’ Shire.
Speaking of rings, the onion bulbs that Boris unearthed from the newly dug beds for a light snack last autumn turned out to actually be bluebells. Not that I detected a floral note in the dreadful windy aftermath…
Email me at siobhan.mcnally@mirror.co.uk or write to Community Corner, PO Box 791, Winchester SO23 3RP.
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Winter has been slow to release its tight grip this year but, finally, all around us spring is bubbling over in the parks and gardens, like a fizzy tonic. Photographers, like Kim Welberry of Boston, Lincolnshire, are feeling inspired by the promise of warm summer days ahead.
The 36-year-old says, “I thought readers would like to see these happy photos of spring daffodils and a beautiful magnolia tree in bloom in my local Lea Park.” ■ Is your garden springing into life or have your apple and cherry trees blossomed? Send your snaps of spring colour to siobhan.mcnally@ mirror.co.uk, and don’t forget to include a selfie, age and location.