SPRING ARRIVES

Now, at last, the vegetable seedlings can spend the days out in the sunshine, covering tables and window sills in every vantage point on the south side of the house, as well as in the cold frame. Here are just some of them.	Ian's cherry tomatoes are very strong and are being given away to neighbours as they prove  that even mouldy seeds should be given a chance to grow.100% germination means there are hundreds of them!
The lawns are a profusion of colour as tiny violets, polyanthus, daffodils and other bulbs and several wildflowers burst into life. I feel like a buddhist as I tiptoe across the grass, trying not to step on anything in flower! Every day something new appears. The trees, such as this willow, below, have buds bursting forth as the days warm. The raspberries and hazelnuts so recently planted all have their first leaves and the cuttings we took when we pruned them are making more plants for planting later.
	At left is the first shrub to colour here. It is a forsythia and you see it everywhere, forming vibrant yellow hedges while other shrubs are still dormant. I can see how spring is such a time of joy in the garden, in these colder climates, as so much is deciduous and colourless over winter.