Spring

Spring

As I remarked in my last posting, spring has arrived; the evidence is all around. I've been eating strawberries and asparagus for almost a month now but from Morocco and Spain. I don't detect much difference between that asparagus and the local produce but the strawberries are definitely inferior. However, local varieties of both have just appeared in the markets but at relatively high prices, around 11 euros a kilo. It will take 3-4 weeks for the price to come down to levels suitable to my budget.

I made my first visit for some time to the market in Vaison this week, getting there around 8.00 and finding the car park virtually empty. The first noticeable influx of visitors won't happen until Easter. I went to see what plants were on offer, as my pots and back garden are ready to receive them, and encountered a familiar problem. Nearly all the plants on sale were in full bloom which means, at this time of the year, that they have been forced and so will become weak after flowering, if they survive at all. However I managed to find some rockery plants and a few perennials (coreopsis) with few or no blooms. It seems early to be planting but I always get itchy green fingers when spring starts.

I've had few winter casualties: some geraniums that I left to their fate and two or three clematis. The solanum by my front door which I thought might be dead is showing signs of life. I shall replace the clematis and buy more geraniums. I've decided I have to like the latter, despite my aversion to the scarlet ones; I feel they are a kind of garden cliche and I'm not keen on the pink ones either. However I have seen some deep red ones and the white ones look OK. My problem is the amount of shade at the front, particularly under the balcony and when the lime trees opposite have all their foliage; so many plants fail to flower well in even partial shade. Geraniums will flower in spite of the shade. I shall probably also buy two or three lavendar plants to go round the bench opposite my kitchen window. At the back there is little space for more planting as nearly everything survived the winter but I will fill in the gaps with coreopsis and some phlox. The birds that come to the feeders on my balcony have dropped enough sunflower seeds to produce several strong sunflower seedlings which I'll also use to fill gaps. I haven't yet made up my mind what to put in the hanging baskets.

After a week of summery weather we have had two days of continuous rain, which has put a stop to further gardening until next week. The lighter evenings will help when the clocks go forward tonight (but back 40 years next Wednesday!) The rain has started the frogs off though, practising early for their usual summer chorus. I think of it as a frogs' chorus but I believe that in fact it is a toads' one. Certainly, the locals insist the creatures are «crapeaux». That has puzzled me because although toads like damp places they don't usually spend a lot of time in or by rivers, which is from where the chorus emanates. However, at a recent lunch June, from BELL, said that although she has a pond in her garden there is never any frogs' spawn in it. So toads they must be.

I've agreed to add my voice, such as it is, to our impromptu village choir for the 100th (I think) anniversary of the village school, at which we have been asked to sing. Friend Jo as usual is doing all the organising and directing the rehearsals, brilliantly. Getting a decent musical performance out of our motley crew takes hard work and no little ability. It says a lot for how things are done in France that a village of 1000 people is allowed to sustain a nursery and primary school.