Backwards In High Heels

Happy Gardeners

Paul O'Grady is on in the background and just reminded me of a news story I saw a while back but never blogged about.

Soil may help combat depression.  A bug in soil has been identified as being some form of natural anitdepressant, and I thought it was the sheds that made people on allotments happy.

I hereby predict that in a short time you will be able to buy compost with this bug added.

If getting your hands dirty is too much for you, you can at least look at the pictures from the Chelsea Flower Show which surely cannot fail in making you smile.

I am so pleased Sarah Eberle won best in show for The Bradstone Garden which she has designed after years of research as to how a garden may work for an astronaut based on Mars. It looks a fascinating space and every detail has been thought through - even a carob tree so there'd be chocolate on Mars! And a sunken part where you could chill out but with a chain rope round the edge to pop your feet under to keep you grounded in Mars gravity!

I also like the Fortnum and Mason garden - very traditional, some really simple but effective water features surrounded by box and beehives.

Some good coverage from the Beeb too....I almsot forgive them for Holby Blue now..

soil, compost, depression, garden, gardening, Chelsea+Flower+Show, The+Bradstone+Garden, Fortnum+and+Mason, Sarah+Eberle

Bloomin' Winter

I want snow. I want a hard frost. I want to moan about it being too cold. We haven’t had so much as a proper frost or a single snowflake.

Now you may wonder why I am desperate for bad weather. Well to start with, it is not ‘bad’, far from it. I stand by what my Great Granddad used to say – you need a good hard winter to kill the bugs and shock the land into Spring.

As it is we have already had to mow our lawn this month, my fuschias are still flowering and the camellia is in full flower. Even some of my tenderer herbs are carrying on oblivious to the fact they should be on their winter holidays.

Goodness knows what the garden pests will be like this summer if we don’t get a decent cold snap soon not to mention all the viruses no doubt we’ll be catching!

Also, a frosty, bright morning even with snow throws out a wonderful light which we need rather than this dank, greyness which I am sure is the reason just about everyone I speak to feels down at some level or another.

I’ve never been one to shout ‘panic, it’s global warming’ but now I am beginning to wonder just how badly we have fecked up the planet for the next generation.

How’s everyone else’s garden doing?

winter, garden, gardening

Black & Yellow Hawk Down

First I offer you a huge pallet fire and now a helicopter crash in my own back garden! This is indeed a blog of action.

I went out to water our garden this morning (sorry southern readers, didn’t mean to make you jealous but we haven’t got a hosepipe ban….mmmm, look at my rubber tubing spouting…)

I looked across, sans glasses so everything was in a beautiful mist like when Miss Ellie used to appear on Dallas, and could see something yellow resting on my greenhouse tent. ‘Mmm’ I thought, not able to make out the form, ‘I wonder if I left a pair of secateurs there?’

Over I went and found…a black and yellow remote control helicopter in a rather bent fashion. I don’t think this is its first crash landing though due to copious amounts of duct tape already present. There is no sign of a miniature pilot – perhaps he bailed out.

I’ve put a note up in the local shop so hopefully someone will claim what has once been their pride and joy I’m sure.

This isn’t the first time I have found something foreign in our garden despite the fact we live in a cul-de-sac and have a totally enclosed back garden. In fact we are very lucky garden wise. As we are on a corner our back garden is about three times bigger than others in the area. It is enclosed by a medieval hawthorn tree boundary, private and safe for the cats.

Despite having a closed in garden I have in the past gone out to find a rottweiler sat in the middle of the lawn (he could have just walked into other peoples gardens but decided to clear a 3foot gate to visit us. He was as soft as muck, thankfully!), someone’s pet rabbit (who terrorised our cats) and a cat with a tag which said in Spanish it had full rabies protection. Most animals around here seem to think we are some sort of drop in centre.

There does seem to be a wind tunnel effect down the driveaway and things, such as autumn leaves, get blown down into our garden and collect in little piles. In the past I have found amongst the wind presents an in-date lottery ticket (not a winner) and a five pound note.

Who said gardening wasn’t rewarding?