Cast ne’er a clout till may be out and the may is out with a vengeance, a mass of white blossom so the solution to the old question of is it the month of May or the plant itself is – it’s definitely the plant, on Crete anyway.
Yesterday a cloudless sky and the sun as hot as a June day. Managed to do a fair amount in the garden although I am afraid the energy level has dropped considerably since last year and I somehow doubt I will ever do as much as before. There is so much to do! I have to clear the vegetable beds as the seeds Douglas planted, pumpkin, zucchini, beans, tomato, are coming up in front of your very eyes.
The garden is a riot of colour. The nectarine, almond and nut peach are in full bloom; a mass of pink and pinky white and the Pride of Madeira, that now has a spread of about ten feet (will I ever talk about metres and centimetres? I doubt it somehow), adds a mass of vibrant blue. The oranges too are in blossom again and the courtyard is scented with it.
Chris has cut back the grape vines, just in time as they are budding.
Today sees a complete change. Overcast and cool but not cold and still good for gardening so a lot more is being done. Naturally the mozzies have put in an appearance but fortunately the stuff Sandra gave me seems to keep them at bay.
I don’t know if I have ever mentioned the nut-peach before. I have written so many blogs I can only hope I don’t repeat myself. Chris and I discovered the nut-peace while on holiday in Sicily, in Taormina in fact. It was our last evening so I decided to hell with the expense we would go to a posh restaurant and splash out using the faithful credit card. As a matter of fact we had a delicious meal that did not cost an arm and a leg and at the end of which a bowl of fruit which included nut-peaches was placed on the table. For those who have never come across this particular fruit, it is half the size of a regular peach, has the consistency of a nectarine and is sweeter than both. In fact it is a taste treat par excellence. Our waiter informed us that this miracle fruit grew only on Sicily and nowhere else in the whole wide world, so when we discovered a tree for sale in a garden centre here on Crete, we snaffled it up. It was quite expensive but worth every drachma (as it was then) and every year it has given us an abundance of fruit. I don’t know if it is a dwarf variety or if that is the actually size of the tree but in six years it has not grown above about three and a half feet. If you want to work that out in metres go ahead - you’re welcome!