We’ve finally had a first scent of spring, with some warm days and not-so-freezing mornings. This winter has felt incredibly long and wet. The rain is a blessing, and all of the dams are full, so we’re looking forward to a good spring and summer now. I even managed to survive the day in shorts 🙂

I’ve managed to get a few hours to do some more cuttings for the garden. I’ve been gradually spreading and propagating my herb garden from a small number of plants that we purchased a long time ago. I am a big fan of rosemary and lavender, and from 1 or 2 plants picked up at nurseries, I now have dozens of them flourishing in the garden. My latest batch of cuttings will bring the numbers to  well over one hundred plants.

I have an Acer (still haven’t pinned down the exact species – it’s a type of maple) that sheds its hundreds of winged seeds each year in the garden. A long spell of avoiding weeding rewarded me with about 80 saplings which are now thriving in my nursery. The old agterplaas (lit. “backyard farm”) has coped well with being a part-vegetable garden, part-nursery, part-play garden for the kids.

It’s hard to find time to garden in our busy schedule, but what time we can find is well rewarded. I think that there is a famous quote that says, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” It’s a great thing to watch that bit of time spent flourish throughout the season. I just wish I had more time to keep the weeds under control, then our garden would look neater. Still, it’s developing a great core of things I love, so I have to be content with that for now.