Paperclip Gill's Spring 2025 Journal Gill's Spring 2025 Journal

The Gardening Year

19 / 05 / 2025

Gill's Spring 2025 Journal

Andrew White

Andrew White

Rhino's Gardening Enthusiast & Greenhouse Expert

This spring has been a busy one. We decided to tackle all sorts of work in the garden to get everything looking tip-top for the summer. We always seem to be doing projects!

For the last ten years, we've lived with an old, broken concrete drive that runs down to a parking area surfaced with scalpings. Each winter, the rains would wash silt, mud, dust, and leaves down the track and onto the parking area. Along with them came seeds of all kinds, and as a result, all sorts of weeds would take hold. I tried to keep them at bay, but in the end, they out-weeded me and I had to give in.

I have nothing against weeds—in fact, I'm a fan—but when they really take hold and the surrounding mud gets wet and messy, it becomes annoying, especially in winter. So, this spring, we hired a small digger and got to work. We replaced the cracked, wobbly concrete driveway with simple, robust concrete tracks, and resurfaced the parking area with hoggin—a self-compacting mix of sand, clay, and stone. The area has been transformed, and we’re so pleased with how it looks.

While we had the digger, we took the opportunity (obviously) to clear a large swathe of thicket, dense bramble, and ivy. We landscaped the ground, creating a wide, open slope that now gives us direct access to our small orchard, which sits up on a high bank above the house. Previously, the only way in was through a small gateway up the track and around the corner. It’s quite different now that it’s all opened up—I can even drive my old Land Rover up into the orchard. This will be ideal in early autumn when it’s time to pick the fruit; I can stand in the pickup bed and reach all those hard-to-get fruits.

Sadly, some of the old trees in the orchard had died, so we planted half a dozen young apple trees and a few pears, gave everything else a good prune, and scattered grass seed across the newly landscaped earth. Bring on the rain, we thought!

We thought wrong. It's been the driest spring in memory, so each evening we’ve been out with the hose, willing the seeds to germinate. We sowed grass down the central strip between the new concrete tracks and across all the bare patches—of which there were many. I spent many an evening down on my hands and knees, looking for the telltale signs of new pasture. All I wanted was to see those tiny, delicate shoots emerging from the parched earth.

It’s frustrating to use the hose when the rain should really be doing the job for you, but needs must. Eventually, about ten days in, I began to notice a light green haze—a kind of lime-coloured fuzz across the ground. Day by day, it deepened and thickened. The watering had paid off, though the sun wasn’t taking any days off, so we carried on with the regular regime.

Below the orchard, at the base of the bank, is our timber garden studio. One half is set up for pottery, and the other half holds a desk for writing and drawing. To the right of the studio is a patio we built using offcuts of Portland stone. This is where our new Rhino patio greenhouse sits. It gets sun for most of the day and has given me so much extra space for the trays of young plants I’ve been bringing on.

In the main veg garden, it’s all go. The warm spring has been great for the seedlings, which are coming on strong. Just before planting them out, we topped up the beds with two tonnes of local compost and a Series III Land Rover pickup full of horse manure from a nearby farm—wonderful stuff. The manure has certainly helped the young tomato plants take root, and it’s trebled the amount of asparagus we’ve been harvesting.

In fact, it’s been such a good year for asparagus, I decided to make it the star of this spring’s Rhino recipe.

Crab and Asparagus Salad

We tend to reserve smoky fires for cooking meat or perhaps fish—vegetables don’t get much of a look-in. This is a shame, because many respond beautifully to the charring heat of an open fire. When it comes to fresh asparagus, fire is one of the best ways to cook it and this salad of bbq asparagus, fresh crab and labneh is one of the best ways to eat it.

Ingredients:
1 large brown crab, cooked and meat picked
Pinch of chilli flakes (optional)
10–12 asparagus spears
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Flatbreads, to serve (optional)

For the yoghurt (labneh):
500ml (17 fl oz) natural yoghurt
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 small bunch each of chives, fennel tops, and parsley
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

Method:
Make the labneh: Place the yoghurt in a bowl, add the salt, and stir well. Set a sieve over a bowl and line it with a clean square of muslin or thin cotton cloth. Spoon the salted yoghurt into the centre, then gather up the sides. Leave it in the fridge (in the sieve and bowl) for 8–12 hours or overnight.
Turn out the thickened yoghurt into a clean serving bowl. Pick the parsley leaves from the stalks and chop with the fennel tops and chives. Stir them through the yoghurt along with the olive oil and a crack of black pepper. Set aside.

Season the crab meat with a little salt, pepper, a squeeze of lemon, and a drizzle of olive oil. Mix gently.

Prepare the asparagus: Snap off the woody ends, then place the tender spears on a plate. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper (and a pinch of chilli flakes, if using).

Cook the asparagus over glowing embers for 2–3 minutes on each side, until nicely charred. (Alternatively, use a hot grill pan.)

To serve, arrange the asparagus over the herbed yoghurt, scatter the crab meat on top, and finish with a few pea or broad bean tops, another drizzle of olive oil, and a spritz of lemon juice.

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