Everything seems to be going on in the Genus garden this week. The lawns, bright green and lush, are growing at such a pace that if a weekly cut is missed due to wet weather it can be a real struggle to keep them under control. Inclement weather hasn’t stopped new and welcome visitors to the garden, however. In the gravel between the vegetable garden and the greenhouses we’ve spotted several highly prized fungi. Morels, with their honeycombed caps and earthy, nutty flavour are expensive to buy and highly regarded by chefs. Unfortunately our forlorn specimens are way past their best - the chefs from our local gastropub won’t be knocking on our door too soon.
A very kind Genus customer has given us some interesting sweet pea seeds. ‘King Tut’ is an ancient strain reportedly discovered in Tutankhamen’s tomb and brought back from Egypt by Howard Carter. We’ll simply report 100% germination at this stage but hope to bring more news in the summer when we can show you pictures of the beautiful sky blue flowers.
Nature has been hard at work in the garden. Several dunnock are making frequent visits to the Genus hedges where we suspect they have a young brood to feed and a chaffinch flew out of the clematis yesterday, betraying its beautiful nest constructed entirely from horse hair gathered from a nearby paddock.
Elsewhere in the garden snails have been brought out by the damp weather and are leaving their tell-tale feeding trails across plant pots and garden furniture, their rasping tongues engraving triangular pathways into the verdant pastures of algae. Their favourite food and one they’re not so welcome to is our hostas, something so far they've left alone. Any misdemeanours and the gastro-chefs may be invited to add escargot to the menu!