The increase in sunny weather over the past few weeks has brought with it – among shitty seagulls and packed St Mary’s lawns – an increasing prevalence in dandelions, weeds and plant growth that is generally welcomed after the grey monotony of the winter months. Indeed, it’s also the kind of weather that guilt trips you into going outside, or encourages you to flee your home out of procrastination (depending on which way you look at it).
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| ID: daffodils from about a month ago blooming in the garden |
Gardening is a task that has grown on me with time. When I was younger, I’d reluctantly agree to water the plants or help my grandma carry a bucket. Now, with age, it seems ripping out a few unwanted plants here and there from between hard to reach cracks in the patio is a much needed form of outdoor therapy. It’s also a form of procrastination that feels oddly helpful and productive, much like laundry or batch cooking dinner for the next few days. It’s needed, but it’s not academic. Gardening has also conveniently made me not afraid of anything with more than four legs or that wriggles, and it lets me live out my Samwise Gamgee hopes and dreams for a few hours at a time.
My garden, just like everything else this spring, has begun its return from a slumbering state of near-dead-ness. The daffodils are out, and the tulips are making good progress. Weirdly enough the salad leaves I planted last autumn have had a growth spurt and are now flowering with wonderfully vibrant yellow flowers. I’m not sure what to make of it, since I don’t think said salad is now edible. Either way, you learn something new every day, and for me it has been the surprising hardiness of rocket leaves.
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| ID: radishes picked in autumn 2024 |
Last autumn I also planted radishes, a lot of them. Actually, not a lot. Simply too many of them. This meant that most of them didn’t actually have the space to become radish shaped and ended up with fashionable leafy hair and not much else. The ones that actually did become radish-shaped I managed to pick before winter and consume with my lunch. They were very delicious and I felt very resourceful about it. The remaining plants I left for the winter until now. Over the past few weeks said radishes have begun growing upwards, much like my rocket, and so I’ve decided to remove them from the soil to make space for future projects. Miraculously, some radish-shaped radishes survived winter and so I plucked them out of the soil, washed them and…well…they tasted awfully salty. Perhaps the take-away from that is just because a vegetable can survive winter, doesn’t mean it should.
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| ID: radishes picked spring 2025 |
In other plant related news, dandelions are officially a nightmare. I mean, I love to blow on them and watch the seeds scatter just like anyone does. But when they’re sprouting from places you don’t want them to be, you have no idea just how stubborn they are. Pulling out their flowers and leaves is easy, getting the roots up is near impossible unless you’ve got the patience to negotiate with them. Next time you pick a dandelion, just know that there’s a lot more to them than meets the eye and maybe you’ll feel a certain kinship with their stubbornness too.
By Mariya (they/them)
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