Eggs and stuff

Well, it's here. Can't be denied.I've seen the queues outside the superhypermegamarket Garden centres. The places where, not only can you get a half dead Penstemon for half a mortgage, but you can pick up a pet, a hall table, two dozen firelighters and a flight for two to Morocco before you reach the checkout. That way, you can also get a couple of warm fizzy drinks to throw over yourself as you sit in a traffic jam on your way to the exit from the car park.

Its undeniably Easter weekend. The fact that Easter consists of Good Friday and Easter Sunday somehow means we have four days of manic spending, travelling and eating in the name of a god which 60% of us don't believe in.

Like Christmas but without the snow. So like Christmas exactly then.

Well, I spent a few good hours in my garden pulling up weeds and clumps of grass before sowing some free seeds I've collected from a weekly magazine. It didn't cost me anything for the seeds, a situation proven when they didn't give any away one week but charged the same. That's what I like, knowing it's really free. So I had nothing to lose when I sowed them and a full display of flowers to gain. Spent a brief spell down Clarke's Field in the morning, sowing two rows of Boltardy Beetroot and two channels of Onward Peas. Went back in the afternoon for another hour just picking some of the broccoli sprouting and cutting a spring cabbage and some chard. Did my first serious bout of watering too. Not a good sign. The ground is looking life a scale model of the grand canyon already. Watch this space for the first hosepipe ban soon. Grass was looking good as my neighbours have both mowed their respective paths. I have a rechargeable strimmer with which I shall try to contribute but to be honest its a feeble effort compared to these guys and their petrol powered mowers. When they start manufacturing powerful rechargeable mowers that can cope with the rough terrain of an allotment I'll be first in line for one, but all that seems to appear in the ad pages of the horticultural press is a cylinder mower which looks like it could manage a faultless front lawn but not much more. Have some seeds of American land cress to try this season. The wife loves it in a salad and despite its common name of watercress, only requires moist soil that doesn't dry out rather than running streams so I'll prepare a patch in the shade near the water trough so it can benefit from the odd spillage too.

Its getting near time to search out the special seeds for the Butternut, the Mooli and the other odd varieties and unusual crops for this year. I guess Land cress is a start!