Scottish gardening - aye, aye

hi Scottishgardener! there certainly is always plenty to do even in a small garden like mine, i have been wanting to get out there all week as i still have some autumn leaves scattered around which need collecting, but we have all had the flue this week and don't want to risk getting something really nasty on top of christmas. but having said that i find that if you work in the cold all the time you are less likely to pick up the germs in the first place. i used to work as a florist full time before i had my little girl 2 years ago and i never used to get anything. all the flue bugs used to go round the family and they would all be really ill but i would get away with a mild cold. i think it is because the germs cant bread as well in cold conditions. anyway i have really noticed the difference now i am at home most days in the warm - this one really has the better of me. so i will have to make do with looking at everyone elses photos for now!

and hi to you, too. My first comment on this site. Thank you for that. Hope the flu bug is gone by Christmas - you don't want that when Santa calls. An article about christmas, christmas trees and santa visiting on christmas eve can be easiest found by typing 'christmas tree blether' into google if you get a moment. I wrote it, and it describes christmas at out house - one aspect anyway - when the kids were very young. Have a good one when it comes.

Hallo! Welcome to GOY...I could never do your job, making other people's gardens look great - I hope you are able to 'stand and stare' sometimes, to admire your handiwork, and also that you are appreciated!

Hi, and thanks for the welcome. Yes, I always make a point, actually, of 'standing and staring' just before I leave a garden to admire my own handiwork. And yes, I am appreciated. I am very lucky - despite the cold weather at this time of year - to be able to be self-employed and choose what gardens I do, and do not take on. Although the gardening aspect is obviously important, it's actually the people that make the job for me. Some characters, good chat, lots of variety (a 2 hour stint weekly in someone's garden is my limit before boredom sets in), and plenty to eat which is great from my point of view as I have always enjoyed scoffing tasty home-baking. All the best from the Scottish highlands.

thanks, i'm sure we will be ok for christmas, we all seem to be on the upside of it, - but the boardum is starting to set in after being stuck in doors with little one for 10 days, she is starting to get up to naughty things - vandelising the christmas tree, trying to unwrap her pressies when i am not looking ect.. well at least she is feeling better, much prefer the naughtyness to the laying around with high temp! constant worry! well at least i can relax a bit now lol oh well will have to excape into my little GOY world! - are you hooked yet scottishgardener? what a fantastic site!

Glad you are appreciated. You havent told us about your own garden, please do, it's always interesting to mmet a new member properly. (I'm assuming you don't live in a high-rise with only a potted plant to care for - lol)

No, don't live in a high rise. I live in a wood, actually, 2 acres of it, most of it quite boggy or full of heather and gorse. I have a polytunnel, however, and a number of raised plants. I grow hardy perennial plants from cuttings and division (and a few from seed) and then sell them - not vast numbers, but enough to make it worthwhile. All cuttings and seeds too, are grown outdoors without the aid of rooting powders or a green house. The polytunnel, however, is handy for potting things up when it's too cold or wet to do it outside (also handy for storing the garden tools, hay for the goats and such like: in fact it's a bit of a tip!) One day we shall have a well-cultivated garden but for the moment we have a small patio area with a lovely bamboo (partially dog eaten) and plants in pots. Oh, we have some wild orchids in the wood. We have a place that is much like a croft, i guess, though it's not actually a croft if that makes sense.

Sounds fascinating - like a smallholding...tucked away in a wood, too. Have you got chickens as well as goats? Our Lab eats all sorts of things, too, but so far has left our Bamboo alone. He loves eating 'Goosegrass' (weed) and grass, usually my ornamental ones, and he kept trying the Phuoposis which made him VERY sick :-( He also holds the world record in eating fallen apples!