As the weather gets warmer we all start to think about the garden and the sights of buds on trees and new shoots on plants pushing through the earth can be both beautiful and calming elements to assist our mental health. This is the time of year I get very enthusiastic about gardening (pity it doesn’t last throughout the year) and I tend to spend a lot of time planning how the garden will look. Of course, in my head it is always perfect, full of colour and interest with creative planting and instinctively good landscaping. The reality, as we all know will be very different. But this is the triumph of hope over experience which is my usual relationship with gardening. In April and May the possibilities are endless. By July you sort have admitted defeat and by September you’re just not looking at the garden when you go out. Its always a bad break up.
I have managed to keep some things alive despite my natural inclination to kill everything. These include patio fruit trees which I have successfully grown for four years. In that time I have harvested the grand total of 1 small (but beautifully marked) apple. This is from 2 apple trees, 1 pear tree, 1 cherry tree and a plum tree. I continue with my endeavours but it is a thankless task if you’re after at least one of your five a day.
Whilst you’re out exercising have a good gawp in your neighbours garden and see what they’ve got growing there. Take time to enjoy the miracle of nature unfolding before your eyes. Because before you know it it’s gone and you’ll have to wait another year to see it again. At this difficult time if we can do nothing else we can take time to appreciate nature in all it’s glory. Do it today.
