The penultimate day of this month has definitely been spring, and being a Sunday I spent much of it enjoying our garden and catching up.

I can hardly call it working as it was a delight to be out there in the sunshine. The onion sets are now in and with just their little noses poking above the soil I dare-say the birds will pull them out again. The new seeds that I have sown however, I have netted to stop the cats using the fine tilth as a latrine.

The Magnolia stellata that I planted last year is covered in flowers - fingers of delicate luminescent petals that quiver in the breeze. The miniature Prunus incisa ‘Kojou-no-mai’ is also a froth of pale pink tinged blossom.

In fact, the whole garden is a feast of colour and new life - birds are busy (and noisy), bumble bees and butterflies have made a notable appearance and as the light faded from the day the first bat flittered across the skyline.

And so we begin the season of new awakenings, freshness and hope…. and of course, weeds.