If that headline rings a faint bell in your mind, then like me, you probably played this circle game as a child. 'In and out the dusty bluebells - who will be my master?' There are all sorts of regional variations, but I do remember singing 'tippy-tippy-tap-tap on my shoulder'. If this completely baffles you then there's a great History Girls blog post on the origin of this game here: https://the-history-girls.blogspot.com/2019/05/in-and-out-dusty-bluebells-by-karen.html
I'd all but forgotten this rhyme until - as happens every April/May - my garden became overrun with (unwanted) bluebells.
Now some people (not gardeners, I dare say) get all romantic about bluebells. Spring is sprung, blue woodland carpets, fairy flowers, yada, yada. Not me. I do not see the point of the things.
For one thing, they spring up just after I have done my big post-winter weeding and they cover every available space. And because I am not the sort of brute who can rip up a flower in bloom, I feel obliged to wait it out until they die off and go, ahem, dusty. They take their time about this, and they look messy in the meantime. They don't even have a nice scent.(No, Jo Malone, they do not.)
They are not traditional - most bluebells these days are Spanish invaders who care not for Brexit*. (*Disclaimer: I did not vote for Brexit, in case that last sentence can be misinterpreted.) They have all but eradicated the native plant.
On the positive side, I'm slowly making my way down the awkward sloping garden and knocking it into a sort of shape for summer. Usually, we do 'No Mow May' but because the horrible damp and chilly spring forced us into No Mow March and April, meaning the grass was getting ridiculously long and scrubby, we cracked and cut it this weekend. We'll leave it alone for the rest of the month, I promise.
And once again I am reminded of the absolute pleasure of messing about in the garden.
The blackbird sang for the entire afternoon as I got my hands dirty. Short audio file below, if you'd like to hear the soundtrack to my afternoon.
And it's getting there. Not much veg planting done yet, but that's in the (late) planning stage.
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