Today I turned forty mumble, mumble, mumble today. A fabulous start to the day with the kids coming in early with some wonderful pressies. I got another t-shirt (garden themed of course), some unusual fruit teas which most are very difficult to get in the shops, a wonderful new note book to write down any novel idea I have (I’ve got a few notes to do on my first novel, but am thinking about what happens in the second book already), a couple of fabric head bands, The Greatest Showman Bly Ray (it’s one of those films, when I’m feeling a bit weird and not myself I’ll sit and watch. I think I’m over the top of the hill with the weird feelings, but it’s taking a long while to descend the mountain), the Sarah Pinborough novel Behind Her Eyes, if you’ve not seen the 6 part drama I suggest you give it a go. And finally some new slippers that are so cozy to put your feet inside, and the softest dressing gown I have ever felt and some money from various other people.

After breakfast of pastries and croissants, and obviously getting washed and dresses, I was out in the garden.

I tidied the front first, not that there was much to do there, most of it’s in pots and the bed by the house, I gave it a massive overhaul last autumn because the house was being painted. The shrubs I had to prune back really hard and now they’re starting to produce leaves again. Now I can keep them to a sensible size, where as before they were just too large. Various bulbs are flowering, mainly the hyacinths and the daffodils, but the tulip leaves are growing well, the flowers won’t appear for another month or so. The front of the house is south facing so it gets lots of sun so the tulips tend to flower out the front first before the ones in the back does. But that’s fine by me as I get a longer flowering season that way.

Once the front was all sorted then I went into the back garden and headed straight to my greenhouses.

The first job was to tidy up the geraniums. These are semi hardy geraniums that have to live in the greenhouse over the winter, but when the weather is warm enough they are very happy out in the garden. I keep them in pots so they are much easier to move, but they flower throughout the late Spring, Summer and into the Autumn. They’re very highly scented and the bees love them. I’ve got some large plants which I keep taking cutting from. It’s very easy to do. Just cut a stem off, and put it in some multipurpose compost. If you do ten then seven or eight are likely to take.

Now they’re all nice and tidy and if I trim them regularly then they’ll grow lovely and bushy.

Then it was time to check up on all the seedlings and see if anything needed pricking out. I sowed a load of seeds last weekend, and many of them have started to appear, but are all too small to prick out at the moment. But I gave them a good water and popped their propagator lids back one, firstly to keep them a little warmer, but secondly to stop any mice from having a little nibble. I don’t think any are getting in the garden any more, well I don’t think any rats are getting in anymore, but mice can squeeze through the smallest of gaps. Mice seem to create less damage than their larger relatives so if the odd mouse gets in the garden I don’t really mind. If they start breeding I may change my view on that.

I also gave any other plants that I’d already pricked out some water, and any other plants that I have in the greenhouses. They’re all growing really well, and now we’re in Spring and the days are getting longer and warmer then hopefully they’ll put on loads of growth.

Once all that was done it was time for lunch. In our house when it’s your birthday you get to choose what you want for breakfast, lunch and dinner, this was started by my parents and I continue the tradition. So for lunch today I choose a platter lunch. On a large wooden chopping board you put cheeses, various salads, meats, olives, coleslaw, sausage rolls, chicken drum sticks, potato salad, and in a bowl some cut up French bread and in another bowl some crisps. If you wanted to add some little cocktail sausages or cheese straws, or anything else to it you can. You then make up your own lunch, it’s fun and is different every time. As it was my birthday I had a beer, and then for pudding we had a cup cake. Oh man they are so tasty.

Then time to watch a little something on the TV while lunch went down and then back out in the garden for some more fun.

The afternoon was spent weeding. I know for many of you that doesn’t sound like fun, but to me it is. Yes I am a little odd I know. But the sense of achievement once it’s all done is wonderful. All neat and tidy, I just love it. I also needed to move various bags of garden waste from the back garden in to the garage. I would have put it straight in the garden waste wheelie bin, but obviously the council missed my bin again. That’s twice they’ve missed it now and there have only been two garden waste collections so far this year! Bloody useless. Obviously I’ve reported it, but they finally collected the first lot 12 days after it was supposed to be collected, so I’m not holding out much hope for this time.

Dinner was lamb, slowly cooked in red wine with celery, carrots, onions and garlic. Roast potatoes and purple sprouting broccoli from the garden. Guinness to drink with dinner for me, the other’s had what they like, and then after bath, and time to put on my wonderfully soft dressing gown (it’s got a hood as well), it was another cupcake and a little song.

A wonderful way to spend my birthday with the family. I was the last one in the family to have my birthday in lockdown. But to be honest it was perfect for me. I sat at the table eating dinner in my pj’s, dressing gown and slippers. If you did that at a restaurant I think they would have a word. I got to do what I love all day and be with the people I love, what more could I ask for.