Rewards: 3rd May 2020

I've had a couple of grim weeks where the social media gardeners I'm following all have their flowers and veg bursting into life whereas mine are - shall we say - rather slow (which is the exact phrase a maths teacher used on one of my school reports). What I have had to force myself to accept is that here in the north-east we're a fair way behind the south, in terms of blooms and blossoms. But finally, I am starting to see some tentative growth.

Peas be with you

Peas.

Salad leaves. Soon to be inside a sandwich near me.

My herb tubs. I now have a herb garden of which Hildegard of Bingen would not be too ashamed.

Here and elsewhere in the garden I now have healthy rosemary, lemon balm, sage, parsley, thyme, bay, chives, oregano, tarragon, lavender and mint. Happy with that.

Apple blossom. (Not strictly the result of my recent efforts, but always nice to see).

Starwort and secret gardens

This week's tasks (amid all the constant, wearisome watering, because here in Berwick we've still managed to dodge all but a few drops of rain) include:

* Placing some oxygenating plants in the pond. It's pretty free now of any yucky green stuff but it's still a bit murky and we want to get it clearer. Oxygenators stay under the water and produce, er, oxygen. And they slow the spread of algae. We used a native plant called Callitriche stagnalis, which has a much nicer common name of water starwort.

.

* Replacing a horrible, rotten old wooden door which backs onto a neighbour's garden with a wrought iron gate. The old door fell down a while ago, but here's the new one.

I chose this because it felt a bit 'Secret Garden' - a book I genuinely loved as a child (even though now I would seriously question the way Mary the main character was overlooked for the drippy Colin towards the end. And I fear the door may actually have been wooden.

But for those who remember the 1970s BBC children's TV serialisation, here's the theme tune to take you back. Wait until the oboe starts).