Suburban Tomato

Now this is a bit of an indulgent list and obviously highly subjective, so subjective that if I was asked tomorrow I might come up with an entirely different list.  But today this is what I want to listen to.

Another Sunny Day – Belle & Sebastian.

Perfect song and top of the list because not only do I love it, today was sunny but best of all it includes the lyrics:

Another sunny day, I met you up in the garden

You were digging plants, I dug  you, beg your pardon

I took a photograph of you in the herbaceous border

It broke the heart of men and flowers and girls and trees

How could you not love a song that references herbaceous borders?

My second choice also includes the words beg your pardon – it would appear people who write songs which mention plants are also very polite.

I never promised you a Rose Garden – Lynn Anderson.

As I’ve grown older my tastes have become more and more country and this is one of my favourite traditional country songs.

Although my third choice doesn’t beg anyone’s pardon whatsoever it is still good.

Cattle and Cane – The Go Betweens

The Go-Betweens are my favourite band of all-time and this is one of my favourite of their songs.  The cane refers to sugar cane which is extensively grown in their native Queensland.

Harvest Moon – Neil Young

This was one of my nieces favourite songs when she was 3.  I feel her tastes have probably deteriorated since.  One Direction anyone?  Anyway when she was 3 she had a discerning ear – this is one of my favourite Neil Young songs (and there are many).  Unfortunately the link to gardening is fairly tenuous but then it was fairly tenuous with the above 3 as well…

Lime Tree Arbour – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

I’ve loved Nick Cave since my uni days (and yes the late 1980s were quite a while ago. Are the 80s vintage yet? or merely retro?). I kind of feel like he has matured as I have. This is from the first of his more mellow albums – A Boatman’s Call.

What would make your Top 5?*

* Please note that I  reserve the right to ridicule any suggestion that Agadoo (Push pineapple, shake the Tree) would make anyone’s Top Anything.

Yeah I know it hasn’t quite arrived here yet, but it will and soon…and frankly I can’t wait!  Spring – yay!  Now I do feel a little sad for all those of you who live in the Northern hemisphere for whom the end of August means the end of summer but seeing as most of you seem to be having it either ridiculously hot, windy or in the case England temperatures marginally warmer than our winters it doesn’t sound like too many of you will miss Summer anyway.   Besides Autumn’s a lovely season too.  So with no further ado these are my Top 5 things to enjoy in Spring:

The garden smells lovely.  In my case this is because of two plants – the Jasmine and the Boronia Megastigma.  I know that neither are particularly kitchen garden related but in my defence my daughter does suck the nectar from the jasmine so I guess it does have some culinary application if you are fairly loose with your definition of culinary.  I have no excuse at all for mentioning the Boronia – its not in the least edible to my knowledge but it is a great plant in that it smells divine, has these nice browny red flowers and best of all grows happily in fairly shaded spots.

Tomato seedlings – I love growing tomatoes but quite often I find the anticipation of growing tomatoes is better than the reality.  My plants often don’t quite live up to expectation, by either not producing sufficient crops, succumbing to some sort of disease or just generally looking a bit sad and sorry for themselves.  In Spring though its all anticipation, the  plants look healthy, they grow lots, start setting flowers and generally the world is filled with hope.

Watercress – My garden suffers from something of a hungry gap for quite a bit of Spring but one thing that does come into its own from the end of winter onwards is the watercress.  Peppery, green, delicious and highly nutritious its such a fabulous plant.   And it makes great soup and great salads so no matter what Springs weather throws at you there is a watercress dish to suit.

Broad Beans – Broad Beans pretty much only crop here in Spring, and as such they remain one of the truly seasonal joys of kitchen gardening.  Mine have just started flowering and I have to admit I can’t wait to eat the first beans, ideally with some lovely green garlic and mint (both of which are great Spring fare).

Its gardening weather!  Summer is often too hot, Winter often too cold, Autumn here moves from too hot to too cold in the matter of a couple of weeks whereas Spring is usually mild.  Spring temperatures here are generally somewhere in the 20s, low 20s at the start moving to the occasional 30 degree day by Springs end.  All very civilised really and absolutely perfect for being outside in the garden.  And that is where I very much want to be, ideally with a glass of wine and a BBQ dinner after a day of seed sowing and planting out.  Ahhhhh – just a few days to go…

What do you like about Spring?  (or indeed Autumn if that’s more on your mind at the moment.)  What else should I be savouring before it disappears to make way for Summer?

At the time of posting the New Goodlife has yet to publish her Top 5 – stop by and see if she has yet.