delivery

i don't work weekends. when it is raining on a weekend morning. i love lying in bed and listening to the sound. safe in the knowledge that i don't have to get up and out in it. today i was happy not to hear that sound when i woke. yesterday it rained. and most of last week. and if reports are to be believed it will for most of next week. on thursday i arrived home to a delivery. this was what it brought.

i received as a present a voucher for crocus. an on-line plant shop. last month i spent it. this month my veg and herb garden arrived. as everything arrives as plugs they need to be planted out quickly. whilst the rain was in abeyance i started early. working quickly.  i chose the window box collection as i grow my veg in pots on my deck. i set to work sorting out which plant would go in which container. quickly i realised two things. first; i had nowhere to grow the plants that needed to be protected from frost. second; i didn't have enough pots. a call to my sister provided a sunny kitchen window sill for peppers and cucumbers. and. a home for my overflow of spring onions and spinach. 

i can't say that i avoided the rain. but. i did avoid the hail. i am now the proud owner of a renewed herb garden. and added to my strawberry plants; tomatoes, mange tout, nasturtiums, lettuce. others will join them over the next few months. it's a good start. 

i'm not green fingered. but. i do enjoy pottering. the care and attention that tending to plants requires helps me relax and unwind after long work days. i enjoy eating what has been grown. thyme with roasted meats. chives with potato salad. mint in a glass of pimms. or a pot of tea. tomatoes. picked off the vine. eaten whole. i have to limit myself. the salad would never see them. the smell of tomato vines takes me back to being a young girl. an elderly neighbour would take us into his greenhouse and let us water his tomato plants. the sweet pungent aroma hit you as the door slid open. nowadays it is my tomatoes that are passed over hedges and fences and shared with my elderly neighbours. that is the best part of the tending and growing process for me; the sharing of it. 

Emma