This is the first time I have really noticed the suddenness that can be the start of Spring because it does feel as if everything has sprung up five times quicker than I would have expected. It seems just a few days ago that the daffodils were diffidently poking through the cold clay of my garden and now most of them are fully and triumphantly in flower everywhere I look and none of them seem to be lingering very long at the bud stage. The warm sun today has encouraged even more out. Even the narcissi at the plot which looked so unpromising last year, with only sparse green leaves, are throwing up buds this year.
![IMG_1913[1]](https://thedevelopingplot.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/img_19131.jpg?w=201&h=268)
Bright in the sunshine
For the first year, something at the plot has eaten a few of the newly emerging tulip shoots. Not enough to be a disaster, but annoying if there ends up being a squirrel problem there as well as the garden where so many of my bulbs have been dug up, eaten or played with by the local thug squirrels.
Although there is lots of Spring growth evident in the garden: hellebores, forget-me-nots, clumps of gentle yellow primroses and bulbs, there isn’t much colour yet at the plot. Lots of promise though, with lupins miraculously surviving the Winter and early slugs and snails; self sown hesperis looking healthy and poking through the earth to test the dahlias, their tubers feel consolingly solid despite all the rain.

Hellebores at home in the garden
A four hour stint of weeding and mulching the beds at the weekend has got some space ready to welcome the blue cornflowers growing on in their pots at home. Spring has sprung alright and started the manic cycle of seed sowing, potting on and planting out which will keep me running round in circles for the next few months.