A Potter Around My Garden - Thoughts and Philosophies

October 07, 2023

A Potter Around My Garden - Thoughts and Philosophies

30th September 2023

I realise it has been a while since I wrote anything on this blog. Why is that? Time, just time…there are always so many demands on it, aren’t there? The last year has been particularly challenging as I seem to have spent most of it in hospitals one way or another - three different ones up north and one down south (the latter being to do with my mother’s knee operation rather than my own medical affairs!). I’ve had more blood tests taken this year than I’ve had in my whole life and have passed more time than I would have wanted under CT and MRI scanners. I have nine new cuts in my body - but I am happy. The things that needed doing have been done (none of them too serious, I should say), and, most importantly, I’m alive and kicking and my head and heart is full of hope for all the things I still want to see and do. And gardens and gardening is still up there on that list…

What is it about a garden that brings such joy? In the northern hemisphere I would venture that it has to be the seasonal shifts in plants and mood, wouldn’t you agree? But even in climates where those seasons are less pronounced, a garden brings solace - from the gently pottering about doing small jobs, to the bigger tasks of clearing and tidying, a garden is somewhere where you can spend time with Nature, be both active or quiet, and re-connect yourself to your home and, ultimately, beautiful Mother Earth. When you have spent a day rushing around being busy, or tied to a desk and screen, there is nothing more refreshing and head-clearing than to go outside and take a walk - or if you are lucky enough to have one, to potter around your garden.

The very act of growing and nurturing plants is so rewarding - it is one of those positive psychological loops where you get genuine reward for the effort you put in. The act of love towards sowing a seed, watering it and then supporting the growth of that plant is like bringing up children - but a whole lot quicker and easier! Of course it can sometimes go wrong - you go away at the wrong time, the weather doesn’t behave as it should, you plant it in the wrong place etc etc - but when it does go wrong, learn from that experience and make sure you do better next time…

My vegetable patch is one such learning curve, I have to say! A decade or so ago, I turned one patch of mud in the grass, in front of a tatty greenhouse, into a walled vegetable garden with raised beds (unfortunately the tatty greenhouse still remains!). I was studying horticulture at the time over at Reaseheath College in Cheshire, and knew exactly what I needed to do to raise strong, healthy vegetables. Some of the factors I could control (soil condition, plant choices, planting programmes etc), but I cannot control the weather. I live at 1000ft up a wet, windy hill in the English Peak District. While the garden has a southerly aspect, it is surrounded by very tall mature trees and the land slopes away from the sun rather than towards it. None of these are ideal conditions for growing vegetables (though at least I don’t suffer from a frost pocket as you can down in the valley). And when it’s not cold and wet, it’s hot and dry and I have a limited water source at the top of the garden - a small water butt and a spring which dries up too much after too many weeks without rainfall.

Yet I persevere. I have good years and bad years, all weather dependent, together with how much I’m around at the right time to tend to things - which seems to be never! If I can be away just as something’s coming to fruition, then I will be! My most regular successes are the raspberries, the redcurrants (when the birds haven’t stripped them overnight), the blackcurrants and the apples -none of which is a surprise because I live in the right climate for these to thrive. Runner beans aren’t too bad, and I’ve had some luck with spring onions and garlic, and some potatoes and carrots - though my crops are always tiny and will only stretch to a couple of meals!! But never mind, the point is, I GREW THEM! They’re fresh out of the soil, full of nutrients and no chemicals or pesticides as I don’t spray them and I fertilise with home-produced ‘soups’ of nettles and comfrey.

I get disconsolate sometimes about the lack of abundance, but each year I try new things and this year I am going to cover the soil over winter with the shorn fleeces from the three sheep we keep to keep it warm and weed-free. I’m also going to try a bit of permaculture, by mixing in flowers and other non-vegetable plants up in the raised beds and I’ll try planting some veg in my herbaceous borders in around the shrubs and perennials too.

Meanwhile, there are lots of autumn jobs to do mainly around taming and tidying. We have cut back the beautiful wisteria on the front of the house - I hated having to do this, but pruning it is important for flower growth, and it was all over the roof and in the gutters which is not good for the house. I no longer have its beautiful leaves framing the view from my bedroom window, but by next Spring it will be sprouting again and we aim to train it in a more controlled manner. Lawns have been cut, borders have been cleared of weeds and old growth, shrubs have been pruned, hedges have been trimmed, bonfires have been lit and helpfully consumed the massive amounts of cuttings. Everywhere I look there is more to be done - it is a never-ending task. But that’s the trick - you have to know that it will never be perfect. Nature is not perfect. Nature is an ever-growing, living thing. You can only tame her so far. And tomorrow is another day…

So sometimes you just need to go outside and sit on your favourite bench or in your favourite spot and listen to the birds, and watch the cats playing with a leaf and feel the breeze on your face. Then wander around and smell the late roses and run your hands through the grasses and prick yourself on the holly and get stung by a nettle and observe the berries on the elderflowers and the turning of the leaves from green to red on the blueberries. See the soft green moss carpeting the rough stone walls, make mental notes of which areas need attention or could be improved; smell the intoxicating earthy scent of petrichor all around you after the rains and be grateful for all that your garden, and Mother Nature, can give you…