Good day to you all on this fine spring morning .. well at least it's giving the impression it's spring out there, yesterday I spent the afternoon in the garden with Hedgewolf and the dog - we have a pond in our garden which is full of yuck and up until now we've kind of ignored it.
We decided yesterday was a good day to get some of the rubbish out of it, so with the aid of the hoe and some not so waterproof gloves we set to our task.
Hmmm...... after extracting all of the Flag Irises we found to our disgust much discarded litter. I know that the garden had been neglected for the best part of 10 years but there is no reason to let rubbish accumulate. We are told that the previous owners to the one we bought the house off were very capable and handy gardners and once this garden was not only beautiful but fruitful as well.
We are attempting to put things right as both of us love the garden and like to make use of what we've got and what we can 'find' there are all sorts of uses for dumped shopping trollies and car tyres. I will stick photos in my media later on ....
The flag irises have now been moved to a place of our chosing and are taking an active part in our fedge - a combination of fence and hedge. Mr has been growing willow withys to create a small border, round what will soon be my wishing well herb bed.
I love wells - it stems back to my early childhood, when my dad was a keen gardener, we had a huge garden when we live in the farm cottage. We had a pond in the 'front' (it was really to the side) garden, through the gate and down the path by the privet hedge there was the chicken run - which to my little eyes was huge, my swing was to the right of that and halfway across the garden there was a wishing well that my dad built. It was glorious, it looked just like a real well, except it was filled with flowers.
When I was really little I used to like helping my Dad or my Nan and Grandad in the garden. My Nan worked as a Nurserywoman for many years, only giving it up when she was 75 years old. Her windowsills were covered in all manner of plants, Christmas and Easter Cacti, busy lizzies, geraniums - of many varieties and my long time favourite - the African Blood Lily - this blood lily never once flowered during my Nan's lifetime.
I took it home with me after she died and it lived on the window sill of our little bungalow in Chatham, unidentified for many months ... then a week before my daughter's birth - it flowered with the most glorious flowers imaginable, this plant then produced some children plants, we gave one to my parents in memory of my Nan and we gave others to friends.
Unfortunately the Blood Lily is no longer with us, I gave it into the care of a lovely lady I met when we lived in a caravan in Wales, she is one of the founding members of the bio-dynamic farm we lived on and I felt that it would be safe with her and to this day it lives strong and healthy in the same victoria glazed pot that it has lived in for all of it's life. That plant must now be 35 years old - I can remember it's first appearance on my Nan's kitchen window sill when I was a child.
I am also very partial to some plants my Grandad used to grow and feel that they will be well suited to the garden we now have. This year we will be growing Sweet Peas and Sweet William.
I will be 39 this year and think that it's about time I put down some roots and started to pay homage to the people who helped to shape my love of the garden, so in memory of my Grandparents I intend to become self-sufficient with vegetables, fruit and herbs. My jams and pickles are popular with all of my friends the world over, I may even consider selling them at boot fairs and the like next year.
Anyway - Hedgewolf and the garden are calling, so I shall shake my weary bones and get out in the sun and enjoy what's left of my day off.
