I think I would have gone really crazy the last few months without access to outdoors space. If I ever needed convincing that I really need a garden, I certainly don't now. It has given me a space to create, to watch things grow and develop, to just notice the ever changing light, sights and sounds and quiet place to try to relax. The 'garden in progress' is still just that but there is a sense of anticipation of the next phase, having just filled these beds with almost 200 bulbs for next Spring and Summer.
The snapdragons at the back are a throwback to the flower beds of my childhood and these plants rescued from the 'past it' shelf at the local garden centre for pennies have flowered on their floppy stems all summer, continuing to delight me as much as they ever did.
The nemesia were also unpromising looking specimens but, cut back after planting, have rewarded with endless sweet vanilla scented blooms that lighten the flowerbeds.
Ever favourite perennial geraniums strike me as 'workers' - the soil her is fairly awful even after lots of extra organic material but these were unchecked and just keep giving. What's not to love?
Earlier in the year I retrieved my very sad looking tomato seedlings from a neglected greenhouse. Most didn't survive and those that did struggled to catch up with the season being a bit late to flower and set fruit. Some got blossom end rot and I was convinced at one stage I would not get any ripe tomatoes but the last little surge of hot weather resulted in this surprise after a few days away. And they tasted delicious! Can't beat plant to plate!
And solace can be found in public outdoor spaces too. A combination of house hunting - in multiple locations across the county! - and a need to just walk for the sake of it sometimes, has seen me discovering new places within a relatively small radius of where I have lived and worked almost all my life. And it is often the little things that can catch your attention and make you smile. Sharing a few crumbs with a robin in a park...
And a late summer wander round a city park (after the best bacon butty I've had in a while from the cafe in the park!) was a reminder of how to keep flower borders full of life, colour and texture even as the days shorten and get cooler.
And in the peaceful bluebell woods where my lovely mum rests eternally, the ferns are lush and green and, from ground level, these tiny mushrooms looked like a forest for fairies...
I am really looking forward to the day I am back in a home of my own and can step out of my door to breathe in the sky and the breeze...but, for now, I am learning to appreciate the grounding effect of the wider world.
S x
