spring in my step

I'm a little earlier than usual this year. Normally, it's towards the end of March that I start to think about seeds and buds and shoots, but I've found that I already have a spring in my step. Maybe it's the sight of the huge, closed-up flowers on 'my' magnificent magnolia (it's not mine at all, it's about two miles from home, but I have an almost proprietorial interest in it). Maybe it's the fact that I can sense the freedom from the desk and screen that will come at the end of the week. Or maybe it's the colours of the socks I'm knitting - spring green and blossom white.

Whatever the reason, I'm back to reading gardening articles and books with a sense of purpose once more. So I was delighted to see that Elspeth Thompson's article on Sunday was about creating a patchwork quilt effect in allotments and vegetable gardens. Just the kind of thing I love. And then I saw the mention of me and my book, and my day was made. The newly found spring in my step turned into a little jump.

I have been reading Elspeth's columns for years and I love her thoughtful but down-to-earth words and advice, and her eye for beautiful plants and flowers, so I was thrilled to discover last night that she's a reader of this blog. And she tells me she has a website - in the colours I have always associated with her such as grey, lilac and a very specific glaucous green - and a blog about her railway carriage eco-house which will have a sedum roof, an idea that has intrigued me since the time I used to play with my friend in an old air-raid shelter which was covered with living plants. I am really looking forward to following the story and am pleased we'll also be able to see the wonderful pictures to go with the text. 

Spring has defintely sprung a spring in my step and I haven't felt this bouncy in a long time.

Comments

[lucy]

Lovely socks! They may spell spring green and blossom white to you, to me they are "Pacer" sock's - do you remember those chewy minty sweets, with exactly the same green to white ratio as your delightful socks?

[Sue]

Thank you so much for the links to Elspeth Thompson. I just lost myself for far longer than I had intended!! How cool she reads your blog & that your book made it into her column. Have a good day.

[Joanna]

Thanks for the link to ET ... I haven't had time to read the weekend papers for about a month, and I find the only thing I really miss is her column about the house - much nicer to find it online, I think I'm going to cancel the papers

Joanna

[strikkelise]

I enjoyed reading Thompson's book 'Urban Gardener' a few years ago. I'm definitely going to check out her blog!

[Rebecca]

Lovely Spring-like sock, I have come over all Spring like too, in spite of the wind and rain battering our little hillside!

I am off to explore Elspeth's blog now, I too have been a long time reader.

[brooke]

The green and white stripes of this sock are so refreshing!

[Kathleen C.]

I've found myself haunting the seed aisles of the home improvement and hardware stores recently. I pick up packets read the back think about the calender and then... put them back. Our last frost date isn't unitl mid May.

Mid May! How can I last!?

[gillie]

I saw her comments too and went straight over .... and almost forgot to pick the girls up from school!

[Cynthia]

The socks are just the happiest thing I've seen today!!

[Korinthe]

How wonderful to be noticed :)

I'm currently reading Mel Bartholomew's _Square Foot Gardening_ (or Garden?) as I make plans for this year. It seems to be a very popular approach here in the US -- the gardener is advised to work in 4'x4' blocks, with paths between blocks, and each block is subdivided into 1' squares which are planted with different things. It uses less space than growing things in rows, and it does make for a very tidy-looking garden.

I have been thinking of your vegetable garden embroidery every time I look through the seed catalogs, too :)

[kmkat]

Lovely socks? How are you dealing with the jog in the stripe at the end of the round?

[kmkat]

Lovely socks! How are you dealing with the jog in the stripe at the end of the round?

[Mrs. Thallium]

Mmm, those colors are amazing. Green and white are so lovely together. So clean and fresh!

I think I need to go knit something "springy" now!

[Sherry]

Ohhh, it must be so nice to discover that someone whom you admire reads your blog! I was just reading your book today, and going over the allotment garden section.

I have suddenly become filled with the desire to make a quilt (even though I have never done so before) so I was flipping through the ones that you have made before. I would love to make one for each of my two younger sisters, something they can have because I am away at college and I miss them. But first I must see if I can even make one. And I must also pass my mid-terms. And earn money from my part-time job.

Hmmm, the quilt seems to have been put on hold.

[Siri]

I was JUST wishing today that I had a pair of green socks on the needles. They're next up after the still-winter-with-signs-of-spring pair is done, probably sometime tonight.

[Amy]

I'll definitely have to look at that blog.

We would like to build a playhouse for our children, probably this year. I've often thought a "living" roof would be so neat to do. A sedum roof would be absolutely perfect for my climate!

[Lorie]

Lovely socks, Jane, and yes, the robins and daffodils are out here too!

[wren]

Your spring socks make me think of the markings on snowdrop petals.

[Robin]

Hi Jane, sounds like your thriving. I'm still here, reading you every day. I have a question about your lovely socks. Did you carry the 2 colors up, or did you break off after each one. Stripes intrigue me, but I've always shied away on socks, because I wasn't sure how to do it.

[Sherry]

And I also love how the green is so bright that it reflects off the white yarn.

[Alice C]

I wonder if 'your' magnolia is the same as 'my' magnolia...

[Lynn]

Thanks for the links. Isn't it fun to find out you are a fan of a fan!
Great minds...

[Linda S.]

I too love the colours of the socks. Very spring-like !
Unfortunately, I live in Canada
and we have had more snow this winter than we have had for many years. It's difficult driving sometimes because the piles of snow are so big they obscure the oncoming traffic.
I am hopeful that some day the snow will melt. Then I can start work on the gardening projects I have been daydreaming about all winter.

[Sheila]

Your socks are totally spring! I should have taken a hint from you. I just keep going into the garden and trimming scrubs to force flowering. I could cetainly increase the happy effect with those green and white socks!

[Lolita Blahnik]

Perfect socks! Love the colors and stripes are my favourite!

[dolores]

GREAT COLOURS!!!
They are sooo spring and the kind of stripes are really one of my favorites! I can almost smell the fresh grass and hear the birds...
unfortunatly right now good old europe at least the middle part of it cannot decide between winter and spring - actually more winter than spring...

[Stephanie]

I LOVE them!