When I last posted some notes, the branches of the trees were bare, the sleet was coming down and there wasn't a midge in sight.  A couple of frenetic months have passed since then, with a glorious and prolonged spring seeing the garden burst into life.  Every day since then has seen a step forward until last week, when the clouds of midges ascended, and work has almost ground to a halt. 

However, all parts of the vegetable garden have been filled, although the runner beans are sulking in the cold and wet weather of the last ten days or so.  I hope a day or two of sun will wake them up, but the grey clouds and dripping leaves don't look that hopeful.  The broad beans are tall and flowering well, and soon will have little bean pods - but they need staking soon, or the weight of the beans will break the stems as they are not a dwarf variety.  Interestingly, the garlic sown outside in tubs matches the garlic planted in the polytunnel, showing that over the months since sowing the bulbs there has been little advantage in using space in the polytunnel for this crop.   On the other hand, we did enjoy a couple of very early pickings of peas from a sowing in November, harvesting in late April.  The chickens, despite two layers of netting designed to keep them away from the brussels sprouts and savoy cabbage, have foiled all attempts to keep them from enjoying the leaves, and have taken to jumping on the netting to push it down sufficiently so they can gorge themselves on their favourite food, brassica leaves.  Next year a more efficient barricade will have to be devised to keep them away from the brussels until Christmas time.

Elsewhere in the garden, we have been enjoying the colourful displays of self-sown candelabra primulas in all colours that are now appearing everywhere.  At some point in the last two or three years the quantity of primulas has increased so they are popping up in every nook and cranny.  Two other plants have looked wonderful this year - the viburnum has flowered spectacularly, and the solomon's seal planted throughout the garden has also been looking good.  In the last few days, the large flowered clematis "Nelly Moser" has taken over from the early montanas, and the Ena Harkness climbing rose has produced loads of blooms.  Tree lupins which have yet to find a permanent home are flowering in the polytunnel, and filling it with a lovely scent. 

Now is the time to take soft cuttings of many shrubs - fuchsia, weigela, spirea, deciduous azaleas, hypericum and viburnum to name just a few.  This gardener was early taking some cuttings, and can now move the results out of the propogating cabinet on to the hot bench (vegetable plants having now moved off the bench and into the polytunnel or greenhouse) to make room for yet more cuttings.  A close eye is being kept on the weather forecast to see if the whole month of June will see work in the garden stalled or if the midges will be driven away by more high winds or, better still, a return of the sun.