Birthday Surprise!

So much for a glorious long weekend building structures and then planting out the plants that are to be supported by them all season long.

Well after the debacle of the cucumber frame, I went to bed scratching my head and excited about the following day.  What could be better for a gardener than to have the official last frost date, a public holiday and a load of plants to plant on your birthday!  As far as I was concerned the planets were aligned.

Who needs a lawn when you can have a lake!

The problem is – it rained on Sunday night.  A lot.  And didn’t stop until well after midday on Monday.   So, the puddles I woke up to, on the lawn, rapidly spread to form an ocean by the end of the day.  Poor Fennel the Cat thinks this kind of thing is normal as we have pretty much had constant wet weather her whole life and thinks nothing of walk through a puddle instead of going around it!

Birthday breakfast in bed – I couldn’t have asked for anything nicer

So, I didn’t even go outside – well I did once as Hubby the Un-Gardener didn’t trust himself to do a good job of picking the asparagus spears for my breakfast in bed.  There were two spears that were ready, and they were so good, and I am so delighted they are showing themselves as I’d begun to think they were gone for good.  I did make the mistake of nipping out there in bare feet and that was when I discovered it was not only soggy, but freezing cold as well.  I consoled myself that at least I hadn’t actually planted anything out yet or they would have drowned, as I tucked into my fresh poached eggs and bacon on bagels with hollandaise sauce and two spears of steamed asparagus on the side.  A birthday breakfast fit for kings!

I am very pleased with these gifts.

I was completely spoilt over the course of the day – I didn’t need to lift a finger to do anything at all.  I think my family sensed my frustration over the weather and may have been walking on eggshells so as not to make the day any worse!  And I received some cool gifts – A vacuum pack food saver so my produce can stay fresher for longer, James Wong’s new book which is absolutely fascinating, and I will be dipping in an out of it for weeks learning scientific facts about the things I grow.  I also got a gardening mag and chocolate – lots of chocolate.

I don’t even know why I bother to check – there always seems to be something in there. Having said that – I think there might have been 16mm in there from the last rainfall so it isn’t as bad as it looks – although it still looks pretty bad.

The upside is the ground seems to be draining a lot faster than it did a month ago, and with the patience of a saint, I think I may be able to attentively start work on the garden again tomorrow.  The boffins are suggesting I have 10 days before the next burst of outrageous rainfall, so I’d better make the most of it.  That cucumber frame isn’t going to build itself.

Come again soon – the garden is almost dry – again!

Sarah the Gardener  : o)