With this year’s Spring comes what? The blossoms are the same, the weather is by now much as always but we are up some sort of creek without a paddle. For weeks we will be thrown on to our own individual resources. To make the best of what we have, we could spend more time in the garden, where the promise of new growth as always raises our spirits. Our garden looks attractive, but I will have time to make sure the plants have optimum conditions to grow their best. The weeds will be cleared, not just those that show the most, plants will be properly staked, rubbish will be cleared and I might even clear out the shed and repaint it. That means a skip, and that means clearing out the garage and loft to make full use of it. I am not sure how long all that will take! And what do I do with the junk cleared out while I move on to the next area? It is a conundrum like that that has led to the state of garage, shed and loft in the first place!
I have many favourite flowers, but at this time of year polyanthus are top. We picked up a tray in the local garden centre for only £5, and planted them at the bottom of the garden in front of a tall hedge and immediately brightened the aspect from the kitchen window. I hope they will thrive; they will be competing with lots of other well established plants but with my new resolve to really give the garden time this year, I can look after them.
The house faces south, with a patio facing out to the lawn. Looking up the garden from the bottom the house looks a bit bleak with nothing to soften the aspect. Thus over the years I have built up a number of pots with all sorts of flowering shrubs, colourful annuals and so on. They are a random selection of differing sizes, colours and heights, all grouped together, and in the height of summer they look splendid. It is a good way to create a small garden without too much effort in a difficult place.
