littlelaughalot
Friday, July 06, 2007
Thanks Papa!My Papa taught me many things in the years I was priviledged to have him in my life. One of his greatest passions was for gardening. He didn't have the biggest garden in the world, but what he did have he looked after so well. The edges of the grass were so well manicured...none of this strimmer business. My Papa detested them when they came out...he stuck with his garden shears and had razor like edges to be proud of.
When we moved into the house we are currently in, my Mum and Dad kindly gave us some money from my Gran & Papa who both by this time had passed away. I wanted to do something good with the money, not waste it or use it for something that wouldn't last. So I decided to do my gardens up with it, as a reminder of what my Papa held dear...to care for nature and for wildlife.
Everything that you see in my garden was done by my now not very lady-like hands. I'm not a professional gardener but I have such a passion for plants and nature in general. I edged my lawn with cobble stones and laid some slabs and put some decking in...and it may not have been done by a professional but I'm glad that I did it on my own, because I truly feel that it is mine, and I designed it all thanks to the good advice that always echoes in my mind from my Papa.
My front garden doesn't get much sunshine so I have had to rely on a lot of evergreen plants. Round the back suffers terribly from clay soil, resulting in a terrible lawn and the need for raised beds to stop the risk of the plants drying up in the clay in the summer and drowning in swamp in the winter.It's been a lot of hard work, and still continues to be, as I, in true style like my Papa still have my trusty garden shears at the ready, always trying for as sharp and clean an edge as possible. Many a neighbour over the years has come out and asked if I would like to borrow their strimmer, obviously feeling sorry for me with my shears...I then get strange looks when I say "no thanks, I choose to use these!" If you have a massive garden I can see the need for the strimmer for certain things, but not for the edges of your grass, it just turns the grass yellow eventually..it burns it! Get down on your knees, grab a pair of garden shears and take a great deal of satisfaction from a lovely clean edge. I'm sad...I know, but it's just something I am passionate about.
When I come in the house with filthy hands and nails and a sore back, I know I've done a good job!
As for attracting wildlife....I get many different birds visiting my garden, and at the moment we have our own little field mouse which can be seen in the picture above. We sit and watch it from our window. As long as it stays out there and doesn't come in, I don't mind!
