Saturday 4th April 2026 - Blackthorn, Sloe Rum, Realistically Accomplish and Finishing a Change

According to both the weather apps, I have on my phone, today is going to be the best of the four over the Easter period.   It has definitely off to a good start with blackbirds singing as dawn approached, followed by a beautiful sunrise.  We opted to take our morning walk inland, along the field edges and the back of the allotments.  Dipping down, off Madams Lane, we were greeted with masses of blackthorn blossom (see photo below).  Peter remarked, with so much blossom, there should be plenty of sloes again this year.  (I do hope so because the sloe rum Peter made, for the first time last year, is delicious.  I had a measure yesterday evening with some tonic water, to sip while I was preparing and cooking dinner – very nice it was too.)  No deer about this morning but there was a cock pheasant high up on the hill where the sky larks were singing, plus plenty of other bird song to listen to.

Strolling past the allotments, it’s evident, quite a number are not being worked and, quite frankly, are just a mess.  A few years ago, there was a waiting list for an allotment in the village but now, with so many neglected plots, I doubt if this is still the case.  I started thinking about the gardening magazine we have each month and the gardening programmes on the TV, (I watch these through catch-up, selecting the topics which interest me).  All of these devote a fair bit of space and time to large gardens; I find these impossible to relate to or compare to our garden.  I feel it would be far better to have a magazine (maybe there is one) and a TV programme which concentrate on gardens from the smallest back yards up to those of up to a quarter of an acre/one tenth of a hectare.  This being the case, maybe more people would be able to imagine what they could realistically accomplish and maintain.  It would also give non-professional gardeners an opportunity to show what can be done, in various conditions and terrains, while being enjoyed.

I have some new plants.  These are for a flower bed I started to change last summer.  I couldn’t finish the bed until I’d seen exactly what bulbs came up this spring.  Flowered and now lifted, I have the space for new plants.  So that’s where I’m off to now; out into the garden to make the most of the sun and warmth and get the new additions settled in the soil and watered in.