There is definitely a hint of spring in the air.

At lunchtime today I ambled along the High Street on my regular lunchtime walk around the town centre and took a few moments to talk to some of the market traders in passing.

It was really nice to feel the warmth of the spring sunshine knowing that winter is definitely behind us now.

With the clocks going forwards an hour last weekend it meant that yours truly can spend time in my garden after arriving home from work. Regular readers will know how much I enjoy my garden.

This evening I ventured down to the green house and to my surprise there were flowers on the young strawberry plants that were grown from runners last year. At this rate it will only be a few weeks before I can taste home grown strawberries once again.

At the back of the potting shed my blackcurrant bush is budding up nicely and my grape vines also look as if they are alive and well.

The biggest surprise of all came upon looking in the cold frame.

You may remember that back in October last year yours truly visited Booker common to collect conkers and I planted some to see if they would grow.

Well, to my amazement the flower pots in which the conkers were planted now contain five young conker trees each several inches high.

Standing there admiring the young horse chestnut trees I could not help but marvel at how amazing nature is to think that these little saplings will one day become large trees over 100 feet tall.

As a child I can still remember playing on the common under that conker tree and now I have not one but five of my own Booker common conker trees ready to plant out in my garden.

My father always held the horse chestnut in high esteem and wanted to plant some in the front garden to deter parking in the road.

Who would park their car under a horse chestnut tree with the threat of conkers falling off and denting the bodywork or worse still braking a hole in the windscreen?

Five trees may be a little too many for me but no doubt I shall find some friends to give them to.

Plant swapping is one of the things that I enjoy most about gardening.

My neighbour has already expressed an interest in some cuttings from my blackcurrant bush and a couple of my excellent strawberry plants.

I think that exchanging plants is something that really helps to bring neighbours and the community in general together.

What do you think?

My next blog will be published before 8pm on Thursday.

Is there a topic you would like me to write a blog on? If so leave a comment and let me know.

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Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here