Open garden !

9 comments

Well … Here I sit … Getting the garden ready to open has been a long haul this year…. Maybe I am just getting older … I thought it would be easier the second year.

Last year we were still finishing the garden the day before we first opened …. This year I thought it would be just a matter of actual “gardening” …

But there was the weather … Too wet, too hot … Perfect for gardening when I was unable to do so … And the wildlife we are always open for !

Moles,pigeons,mice and “Peter”. Peter moved in some weeks ago, well, perhaps that isn’t fair …. He was just visiting initially, sampling the various delicacies on offer – Heucheras and Campanulas were a definate favourite, a good pudding after all those tender young veggies. We would here a rustling in the vegetation or see him hop by as we sipped a glass of wine in the evenings. He would disappear along the lane and into the hedgerow .

We decided it was time for him to go … Wire was applied along the gates and hedges blocked up. We went off to the Malvern Spring Show,returned exhausted mid afternoon to see Peter waiting for us – on the other side of the gate,inside the garden ….

The garden is now “ready” this is the second week of opening. We live at the end of a very narrow lane, with no passing places so decided to avoid chaos and neighbours hounding us from the area we would open over a long period, two afternoons a week. Hoping for a “trickle” of people, avoiding a one off stampede and weekends when neighbours are more unpredictable in their movements.

It also means people can see the garden develop over the summer – as all gardeners know a garden can change overnight. I can’t imagine doing all this work for one day when the weather could spoil everything.

A very close friend of mine died with Breast Cancer some years ago and cancer has touched many of my family. I wanted to do “something”. … A chance meeting with the local NGS organiser led to this !

I loved opening my garden last year and hope that people loved visiting it. I met some wonderful people – but , then that’s what we are, we gardeners !And there is always something to talk about and to learn.

And of course there are always cakes ! Although maybe it was just aswell it rained yesterday – a very burnt fruit cake and the beautiful coffee cake that slid apart as I rushed across the kitchen too late as it splogged on the floor were not a good way to start the day ….

If only it would stop raining maybe someone will visit this year !

• 28 May, 2014
• 4 likes

More blog posts by suee