The Sap is Rising

What with the lovely sunny weather recently, I could no longer deny the call of the garden. Garden describes it loosely - the back is 2/3 patio and 1/3 gravel (not our choice) and the front is a rectangular handkerchief. So I have to be really selective in my choice of plants, and grow a lot of things in containers.

The containers are looking very Spring-y: daffodils, narcissi and pansies in flower, wallflowers - or gillyflowers as they are sometimes still called - on the verge of flowering. My pink jasmine is in bud, my scented patio roses (yes, they do exist, although not many of them) have fresh green baby leaves; my bronze fennel and lovage are back, and the violets are flowering. I even have some hopes of survival of the collection of dry sticks that last summer was my lemon verbena.

I have a space of maybe 3' x 3' to fill in the front, where last year I had a huge mallow; it liked the position so much, it was taking over everything, so I got DH to uproot it in autumn. Budget and scent are key when I come to choose what will go there. Suggestions welcome.

But anyway, it's all swept, checked over and trimmed, and DH made a trip to the tip with the stuff that had been lying around 'just in case'. I figured, since we obviously hadn't used this stuff for at least 6 months, we no longer needed it and would be better off for the space.

I've switched over from Radio 4, as I already can't take how much discussion there is about the election. I wonder what they talked about before. I found this instead. I recommend this at pretty much top volume as an accompaniment for housework.

I plod on with the Jojoland Melody scarf. I do not like it. It is gradated shades of green rather than the teal I wanted. It has big lumps of fluff where it has come unplied at various points. And worst of all, it feels scratchy. Maybe after washing, conditioning and blocking the feel will improve.