April 1st  2011    Tim Candler

    Dread April frosts, and to have one on the morning of April Fools is not in the least humorous.  Luck alone led me through the garden gate last night to sniff at things, and then decide to offer the tender protection.

    But not for two year old Asparagus.  Some are already three feet in height, so I reckoned they had lessons to learn.  Which they never will of course, but it gave me a sense of 'serve them right', and it reminded me of why perennial vegetables are a bane.

     In the end I suppose it is the lurking nature of  perennial vegetables that so derange a gardener.  They are too like children for a mind to be able to say "dig them over and start again."  Constantly they are there, consuming space.  Hours and hours of weeding, and still subject to drifts of plague from other places.

       The perennial vegetable as grandchild is always a temptation.  Enjoy the fruit without the responsibility.  A chance to wander the grocer's store, moan about quality.       

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