Looking back at my garden in August

Today let’s head back to last August and take a look at what was going on in my garden. Even though it’s a few months ago, these photos have brought the memories straight back to the surface - funny how photos can do that isn’t it?

In the greenhouse I remember being so proud of my chillies, yes they’re small but boy were they fiery. In truth though we didn’t have a great veg-growing year, so every success was welcome. Our lack of success was I think due to the amount of shade in our garden - we need our trees cut for a better return. That’s not happened yet, so I’m considering my options for this year and plan to grow things that stand a good chance of producing a yield worth the effort required.

Our beans had nabbed one of the sunniest spots and did well, the broad beans which had been there before them less so.

My challenge for 2021 is to prevent MOH picking the borlotti beans when they look like this, the idea is to let them dry on the plant - wish me luck.

The weather was good though and so we took plenty of opportunities to be in the garden, for ice creams, cocktails and meals outside.

But there was also work to do. In the rear corner the jasmine had taken over and so we spent an afternoon cutting it back. I know it will grow again, and probably be better for a good trim. While doing this we discovered the vine which had come over the fence from next doo - it’s the thick stem that’s growing horizontally. And yes, it’s clearly been there for a while.

Not only was the stem thick, but it had fruited - and we had many bunches of grapes in our cherry tree, which the vine was using as its framework. This is the cherry tree that we had a bumper harvest of cherries from too, so they looked as if they were happy to share the space. We weren’t quite so happy, and cut out what we could, though we couldn’t get all of the vine out of the cherry tree - when we have that pruned, it’ll come out and we’ll be keeping an eye on preventing that happening again.

MOH tried a few of the grapes, which were sweet enough - I tried one, and it was ok, but there were almost as many pips as grapes so for a negligible return I was happy to pass.

Back closer to the patio a garden lights plan was being hatched. I’ve struggled with lights as if they go along the sides of the garden, to me, it makes it look more like a runway. I’m not sure how it took me so long to come up with the idea of stringing them across the garden, but it did. This string of solar lights were there as a trial, and were just about high enough for us to walk under.

The trial was a success and we bought several strings of lights, which typically arrived just as the weather turned. If our plans work out, by the time this post is live, they’ll be up and sparkling just when we want them to be. I’ll let you know.

The warmer evenings meant we spent a fair amount of time after working at home in our garden, with both the barbecue and candles being key features. And the odd bottle of wine too.

The evening light was good and the agapanthus continued to flower, and enjoy the evening sun.

We definitely enjoyed the evening sun, and the morning sun too with breakfasts in the garden as well as dinners - now that’s a real treat.

Let’s hope for the same this summer!

My garden in April

It’s been quite a while since I shared a garden post here, and I’m really not sure why. I’ve been taking photos most months - as you’d expect December and January were a bit sparse - but somehow they’ve not made it onto here. So I’m restarting these online memory scrapbook of my garden with snaps taken during April, and over the next few weeks I’ll catch myself up, so don’t be surprised to see a spot of snow in the not too distant future.

But first blossom.

Both of our cherry trees are full of blossom, which can when blown have a snow effect. We don’t have the pink cherry blossom that everyone craves, and goes wild for, like Greenwich Park but white blossom is good by me. Our laurel tree has also flowered this month, and between this and the cherries the pigeons are having a blast.

The laurel needs a cut though, as I’ve noticed that when it rains only part of the stone circle which is close-but-not-that-close-by gets wet. In fact a few of our trees need a cut so we’ll need to call our tree cutters, it’s been a while.

Throughout the garden there’s pops of lime green euphorbias, it’s a colour that really lifts the space especially on the grey-er days. It seems hard to believe that last April we were already making use of the barbecue, not so much - or at all - this year.

Our reddy-pink camellia has finally flowered, it’s much later than our neighbours, as usual but even so, it’s been slow. Now that it’s here, it’s very welcome and very beautiful but I wish it wasn’t quite so reticent. In more exciting news at the far end of the garden, our newest camellia has flowered. I say new, it arrived in 2015 and has flowered before, but this year it seems to have really got the hang of it.

And like many camellias even when it’s fading, it’s still as beautiful. Our ornamental quince, with its orange flowers, is doing well with more flowers than I remember from previous years. Last year we really cut back the euonymus and I suspect that has really helped.

Some bulbs have other plants have self seeded in the grass, and we have our usual carpet of wild violets, which also seem to have found themselves a new home between the paving and slate outside the greenhouse. Both the leaves and the flowers are exquisite, though MOH is less welcoming to the ones in the grass.

We’re still waiting for the march of the forget-me-nots, they are rampant in our garden and while the blue ‘fluff’ is welcome to start with, it doesn’t last. Our challenge is always to pull them up before they set seed, so it becomes a bit of a race. We know that’s to come, but in the meantime let’s just admire the blossom while it lasts.

Irony and priorities

The irony of the timing and my choice of word aren’t lost on me, but as there’s no time like now to refocus and create new habits I’m going with it. I’ve posted here before about choosing a word for the year. It’s something I meant to do this year but never had the time to contemplate in ways I had previously - usually I post this in January, heck one year I even managed December, but here we are scraping in just before the end of April.

Irony isn’t my word for 2021, it is in fact priorities

And yes, I know if I was living my word then this post would have already been posted, but that’s exactly why it is the right word for me, and why I’m posting it now. With some time to think and structure those thoughts (a little) it seemed an obvious word to choose.

Like many people my pandemic-filled year has been pretty full on and busy with my day job, which I was fortunate to be able to continue to do from home. It’s usually a busy role and with Covid it stepped up several gears. Even after recruiting a team of two to work with me it’s still busy, and while I know I’ll never reach the end of my to do list (I’m at peace with that - I’ve realised over many years that there will always be more to do) it doesn’t really look as if it will be dialling down any time soon. So throughout the various lockdowns and whatnots I’ve been mildly annoyed with media suggesting that lockdowns have meant more free time, learning new skills and full of banana bread making and sourdough baking - even though I’ve made plenty of those during the past year, and will more than likely continue to.

I’ve realised that when I’m at work (even at home) I’m fully immersed, and when I’m not working and spending time at home I’m fully immersed there too. Something had to give and as you may know it’s been this space, and that’s not how I want it to be. I’ve been powered in both environments by “just one more thing” - so maybe I’m not totally at peace with not getting everything done, at work and at home, but not here.

But I’ve also realised that I can choose.

Choice - not a contender for my word, but could have been now I think about it - is in my gift, and so are sticking to my priorities, which I know may flex and adapt as life changes and flexes. I’m still working through what it means for me, and how I put that into practice but as Gretchen Ruben says in Better than Before:

Nothing is more exhausting than the task that’s never started, and strangely, starting is often far harder than continuing.

Reading is one of the things I’m doing more of too, and yoga. If I’m honest, I’m better at reading than yoga but I’m sure like most things, with practice, I’ll improve and be slightly less wobbly. That works for my word too, doesn’t it?

So here’s to feeling less torn in so many directions, or at least I hope that’s what it means - and to prioritising the things that are important to me, which realistically could be getting a piece of work out the (virtual) door, or even closing my laptop so that life outside work can take its time as my priority.

I’d say wish me luck, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to need more than luck to make the changes I want.

Photo by Sara Kurfeß on Unsplash