In my previous post I spoke of my early spring checklist for the garden. So, I went out and checked:

The stinging nettle was trying to invade the lower terrace, but nothing I couldn’t solve with a couple of gloves on. I tend to just chuck whatever I pull up into the corner where the nettle is growing; if anything, it’ll keep growing there.

There were some traces of feline activity. Our homegrown thistle was growing quite happily and could spare a couple of big, thorny leaves.

The pear tree is sporting some big ol’ buds along with a lot of small ones. I’ve never had a pear tree before, but I’m guessing the flower buds are ahead of the leaves. Just a bit worried about the night temperatures, which still get close to freezing point. Let’s hope spring doesn’t spring us any nasty surprises. If so, what’ll I do – spray the buds and flowers with water? I know horticulturists do it, but it sounds like the category ‘desperate measures’. Update: flower buds just starting to open, but now it’s raining. Hopefully a chance of getting a decent picture tomorrow. And yes, a bit of nightly frost in the weather forecast. Hope for the best.

Our brave little plum tree produced a single flower in its first spring here. And then it grew about 40 centimetres that summer. We’ll need to decide how high is high enough, as it’s standing in its own little patch near the corner of our upper terrace. Update: flowering beautifully (see picture).

The sandbox wasn’t full of water after all. Well, no worse than it was last autumn when I scooped most of the water out after a storm.

Strawberries too wet, red patches in places. Update: a dry week with a lot of sun has done something for the soil; and for the strawberry plants. Still, we don’t have buttercups for nothing – they’re thriving in our poorly-drained soil.

Quite a few narcissae are looking happy right now. Which is just as well – I scared the wits (such as they were) out of a poor worm last autumn when I planted a bulb in the hole where it was sitting happily. It nearly jumped out then raced to safety further along the hedge. Never seen a worm in such a hurry!

What else is there? Last year’s peas in a package are not in a hurry to grow, but I suspect one or two are doing their best. Wait and see…

All in all – well. What can I say? Don’t you just love spring!