Friday 23 March 2012

Happy Days in the Garden




The flowering quince has been out for at least a week already but I've hardly looked at it.
It needs a sunny day like today to make it stand out against the red brick wall. Perhaps I should have planted it against a different background. But once the yellow fruits have set in the autumn, wall and plant suddenly appear to have been made for each other.



The anemonies are hiding in the shade under the plum tree.They are small and delicate; 
their cheerful little faces always repay a closer look. I like the modesty of the early spring arrivals; 



Now we come to the reason for my happiness: All week I've been working in the garden on my own, I've been weeding and pruning, potting up and clearing leaves.Today gardener joined me and we got through three times as much work together as I did on my own.He instantly lifted the lids off the compost bins and moved in, shovelling compost from one bin into an other; removing twigs, perennial weeds, and bits of cardboard as yet uncomposted as he went along. The compost heaps are our pride and joy, nobody makes compost like we do.




Here gardener mulches a border with a load we made earlier. The stuff is even better than usual because we had to leave it untouched since last June; I made some half-hearted attempts during the winter at turning the heaps but found the work beyond my strength. Leaving it to cook for an extra six months has made all the difference. Just look at that gleaming brown compost gardener has already spread over the bed. It'll make all the difference for the plants, keeps weeds down and moisture in the soil. You may think : "what's that woman on about, why does she go into raptures over compost?" Let me tell you once again, I love the stuff. It is entirely organic, made up of garden waste, grass cuttings, prunings and green household waste, as well as newspapers and some cardboard.





Mulching is quite hard work, turning one heap and covering one border was enough for two ailing gardeners. I go in first, weeding and  'tickling' the ground with my fork; when I'm done he spreads shovel after shovel of compost.We tell each other constantly "don't overdo it, have a break or do something else." Neither of us pays much attention to the other, gardener makes fun of me when I wave my arms at him in horror, and he teases me by asking "do you reckon you could stay alive until next week? We could do the rose border." So we turned our attention to another border, which is madly overgrown with herbaceous perennials which have spread and coarsened into nasty, untidy and unproductive clumps. We were brutal, they had to come out. I am also keen, for obvious reasons, to make life easier; any perennial thugs, which believe they can dominate a border, need putting in their place,  "Out with them", I say, "into the compost bin"!



We managed to free a small area and took out several wheelbarrow loads. Small pieces were replanted. Another thing is that I usually find the remnants of old favourites, like the stiff golden grass in the foreground, in the overgrown mess, which are carefully separated and replanted in a place of honour. The border will look bare and unloved for a while, but once spring is fully underway, plants have a way of colonising every bare patch they can find. Particularly if they can sink their roots into the cooling and nourishing layers of my home-made compost!




Time for a break. Beloved makes the tea at eleven in the morning and three in the afternoon. We stopped work altogether at three.  I was barely able to stand up by then, but I'd have died sooner than admit to gardener that I was done in. I bet he was glad too. I suppose that, if truth be told, we both know that we must not risk going beyond our limit; it would be too sad if we were to be ill again. A wonderful day like today, out in the fresh spring air, grubbing about in honest dirt, creating something beautiful, shouldn't end in disaster.

Cheers, I'll drink to that, although my fingers and hands are almost too stiff from battling the weeds to hold my glass.



61 comments:

  1. Your perennial garden is stunning and lovely!@! I want mine to look like that, instead it tends to look overplanned and underloved...really! Be careful..both of you...in your health.

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  2. Oh such joy..hands in dirt...honest dirt, nurtured dirt..joy joy joy
    I love what you said about your quince yellow and autumn...sort of like us love birds of many years...things take time and the right season and place
    and your garden..just the peek that we got...amazingly solid beauty

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  3. What a wonderful garden you have, Friko. May your back fare as well.

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  4. Oh yes, Friko, I get it! We have a three bin compost system and it makes the most wonderful black compost, with the addition of chicken and goat manure. I will be tickling and spreading tomorrow and wishing I had a Gardener to work alongside me.

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  5. What a grand and fulfilling day. Can't wait til I can get out in my own gardens again.

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  6. Friko, huge cheers to you, Gardener and also to your Beloved for getting those tea breaks to put the brakes on you and G!

    This post just sings with the joy and work that brings such beauty to a garden. What respect you all have for the land, and how to replenish its richness.

    I think that you all will have a wonderfully restful sleep tonight. And might sleep a bit later than usual tomorrow morning, too.

    When that day comes when you and I sit down to tea or a glass of something, I would like to tell you about my father's compost project. That's a tale far too long and personal for this space.

    xo

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  7. All that glorious gardening - a metaphor for life. If one had to "go" I cannot imagine a better place or way to do "it".

    Your garden is already beautiful - can't wait to see its progression through Spring into Summer.

    Take care of yourself as well as you do your garden dear Friko!

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  8. What a lot of work! But what a beautiful garden. Your gardener looks like a hardy soul and like he was tired by the end of the day. You crack me up with how stubborn you both are to keep going. But the compost looks wonderful! Kudos!! :):)

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  9. Many people other than you are religious about compost. It's a magical substance. I love the pictures, the stories, and the wonderful garden you are creating. Thank you for bringing me into it. I am happily imagining plunking down next to the both of you! :-)

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  10. Thank you for this charming visit in your garden while you and gardener were hard at work. The fresh air the rich scent of earth and growth, the greens and colors of quince, plus tea time . . . my cup runneth over. TV gardeners I used to watch called compost black gold!

    I saw anenomies for the first time several springs ago on a trip to the Smoky Mountains. They were among the "ephemerals," the earliest of wildflowers to spring up before the trees budded out. All were delicate and beautiful.

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  11. Those lusty plants have "a way of colonizing" because of the rich compost you blanket their feet with, Friko. This is a post and you are the kind of gardener that most of garden club friends would immediately feel a kinship with, as do I.

    Now, about that quince. Ah. My grandmother grew this and how I looked forward to seeing it each spring.

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  12. Oh, look at your table made from an old Singer sewing machine! How wonderful.
    I am such a non-gardener, I completely fail at composting. You and Gardener have my undying admiration, believe me. I have an old school friend who goes into raptures about her compost and the beauty of her vegetable gardens and the quality of her veggies every year. She would love you.
    I should e-mail you pictures of her perfect rows of vegetables interspersed with flowers. She sends us all photos every spring when the blooming starts!
    K

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  13. smiles....it was a beautiful day here today as well...and to have your hands in the soil is not a bad way to live it....glad you had some help...smiles.

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  14. What a beautiful garden! What a lot of work! I loved your pictures.

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  15. Loved your day out in the sun. Love your garden. We used to compost when we had a big sunny backyard. Not at all now, in our tiny almost sunless courtyard. Great way to use old peelings and scraps and I really enjoyed it [as did the dogs].

    Good to see Benno out enjoying the sunshine too x

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  16. Compost is a glorious thing -- I'd rather my husband brought me a load of composted manure than the usual female fripperies. But then I too am a gardener.

    Your garden is beautiful! No doubt thanks to all that lovely compost.

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  17. There's nothing like a bit of garden therapy to lift the spirits :-).

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  18. joyeaux!


    Aloha from Honolulu
    Comfort Spiral

    >< } } ( ° >

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  19. You are so lucky to have such good soil to work with. We are developing our garden from scratch and working outout how to work with clay which is hard in summer and gluggy in the wet weather.
    Thankyou for these images.

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  20. Hi Friko .. wonderful tale of garden life - so much I remember .. the compost heaps we had as kids .. the snake eggs my Dad found and hatched in the house! Then released the grass snakes into the heathland next door ...

    Old stone paths, saving plants, splitting and pulling roots apart - wheel-barrowing compost around - delicious smelling borders ..

    Then that pot of tea in the sun - love Gardener's comment .. "do you reckon you could stay alive until next week? We could do the rose border."

    Great banter .. and love the garden - have fun in this wonderful weather ... and enjoy the weekend .. Cheers Hilary

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  21. Yes, you work very hard! Time to have a cup of tea.
    Nadezda
    Saint Petersburg, Rossia.
    Visit my blog:
    http://northern-garden.blogspot.com/
    I liked yours!

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  22. So glad to see you were well enough to do all that gardening! I can understand it makes you feel good, and the compost is your pride and joy.
    And the perennial "thugs" you removed - well, they will still be useful and productive now as part of your compost heaps.

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  23. I LOVE your garden, Friko! It's the sort that's great to wander in, by the look of it. You deserve a chair and a glass!

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  24. Great team-work, Friko! They tell us to listen to our bodies. Well, you did, to find that it was enjoying itself.

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  25. Love love love your garden. Beautiful
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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  26. I too love compost and we make bins and bins of the stuff but it is never enough. I haven't mulched all mine yet but I hope to have finished by the end of the weekend. That is if I don't give in to the urge to just sit back on my heels and look at it!

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  27. I share your enthusiasm for Good Compost. It's pure gold for the garden, and thrifty and healthy and Original Recycling The Way It Is Meant To Be!

    Your garden . . . just blows me away!
    Your GARDEN (in the American sense) is your entire garden (in the British sense)! Amazing!

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  28. Very satisfying - and a nice hot bath makes you feel almost human again.

    By the way, I suppose you know that urine is good for compost?

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  29. Gorgeous compost, dear Friko! And your garden shows the results of how it benefits from that and the loving attention from both you and Gardener.

    We load up on compost from a husband and wife team some miles away but it is worth the drive. With shoulder problems for both Mr. Outback & myself, this works best. We call it "Black Gold" and it looks and feels like chocolate cake.

    I spied your little tea table on the patio - "Singer" - love it, reminds me of my Grammy's treadle machine too... and so enjoyed your happy post this morning.

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  30. Sounds like a perfect day to me. Warm air, a beautiful garden, a gardener who is superb and beloved providing you with tea! Now relax and best wishes for sweet dreams and a good night's sleep... When life is good -- it's really good!

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  31. I feel as if I know gardener better than some of my relatives..through you excellent writing & pics.

    My dad always felt that there were no unhappy days in the garden.
    ~Mary

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  32. I love the quince as well as the rest of the garden. Such fun when you have company as well. But are you remembering to take care of yourself too? Every Blessing

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  33. Hello:
    You are absolutely right to be proud of your compost as it looks wonderful stuff to us and is, as you say, the heart and soul of the garden. Only one other person that we know made good compost and that was Joan Lorraine at Greencombe, overlooking Porlock Bay. She would personally make sure that guided tours of her garden always included the compost heaps which she proclaimed [and we witnessed]contained compost which looked like chocolate pudding.

    Now, do not get too carried away with the gardening....take care of yourself too!!

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  34. Your garden is a credit to both of you Friko. I've had a day of joy in my garden too.

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  35. Friko, your garden is beautiful. I so admire gardeners, real gardeners. Gardening is an art and you are an artist.

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  36. Cheers to you all - Benno included.

    Do go carefully however driven you feel. Today has been a day for getting out there and 'doing' like a thing demented. Common sense tells me there is plenty of time yet.

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  37. Looks hard work, Kristel has also started in the garden.

    Greetings,
    Filip

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  38. Lucky you! I'd have masses of quinces by now if those darned sulphur-crested cockatoos didn't keep eating them ...

    Gardening-based physical exhaustion is different to any other I've found!!

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  39. I envy you your rich, moist soil. Ours is sandy and rocky and acidic. But it's the fact that "mulching is quite hard work" that always stops us, and leaves us with lots of bare spots, esp. in the shady, remote corners of the yard.

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  40. Ah, compost! When we had our first garden, the mate's first garden book was "The Incredible Heap." I had NO IDEA what she was on about, but I was soon to learn. Pure magic (well, not exactly, for as you note, there is much work involved)! What a joyful gardening day you've had, and two tea breaks in the bargain. A bit of heaven on earth.

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  41. Totally inspiring, Friko. I need to work on mine very soon (we are later into Spring in Newfoundland) but I do so wish that my Leo had even one of gardener's genes!!!
    XO
    WWW

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  42. This is a happy (com)post. You spread some joy as well as mulch.
    I can feel your satisfaction from here.

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  43. Sometimes there is no better balm for the soul than getting the hands dirty. Gorgeous post in every way!

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  44. I was wandering around your blog a bit in the last days and I enjoyed it very much! :-)

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  45. That is too much work for hubby and me. Sorry. My gardening consists of watering plants, trimming, and picking up dead leaves.

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  46. I admire your garden and all your efforts! Oh, I am also a deep believer in compost. We used to add our one-year-old horsemanure, a fantastic dark-soil stuff full of earth worms by then. Must try to get some here.
    But you and gardener are both right: Don`t overdue it, especially at the beginning of spring. Still, getting my hands dirty is something I LOVE, too. Herzliche Grüße!

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  47. It looks like the most beautiful and amazing garden. A wonderful spring beginning!

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  48. When finished reading this, I was filled with warm feeling and felt happy for you. Waiting for the magic of how the earth works, while working with mud, dirt, and sometimes insects, is a bliss. The flowering quince is so beautiful. I think I remember what the quince was like against the red brick wall in autumn.

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  49. What a cheerful post. I love your delight in your compost and how you each are concerned over the welfare of one another. Had no idea that paper and cardboard could be posted. I started to add ground coffee along with bits of organic waste to a pile of leaves and such, but when I noticed mice, it kinda kept me away.

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  50. I'm glad to see you enjoying your garden. Tea time has always struck me as such a novel idea.

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  51. Friko, I get a simple, sweet love story in a garden - two lovers interacting, watching out for each other as they tend to a garden, a garden where love dwells. Beautiful.

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  52. I love days outdoors like that. Especially if I remember to pace myself so I can move the next day!

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  53. Lovely post Friko and what a wonderful garden you have ! I am very envious indeed, and will get more so as Spring continues on its way!

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  54. I absolutely love gardening. It is such a beautiful experience being outside working :)

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  55. Beautiful! I have a hard time throwing away live plants even if they're thugs, so sending them on to compost glory in such fashion seems like something I could live with.

    A master gardening friend of mine says that her gardening changed dramatically when she realized that she needn't find a place for every overabundant perennial. Your garden is certainly testament to that.

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  56. Dear Friko, . . . yes, rich, dark compost is a joy both to gardener and to garden. I'm so glad you set time limits for yourself as working in the garden can really overextend our energy.

    This posting reminded me of the lovely gardens that Desiree shows in her Driftwood postings. I so like the photo of the walkway and the Gardener being ruthless!

    Peace.

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  57. I was doing the same but sadly without the help of a gardener ailing or ntherwise, I knwo all about aches adn pains and trying not to overdo it but it is so tempting to jsut get a bit more done in the sunshine isnt it!

    Sadly i do not have compost bins as the chickens deal with anthinf that might go in one but they amke good manure.

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  58. 'But once the yellow fruits have set in the autumn, wall and plant suddenly appear to have been made for each other.'

    That's what you call far sight.

    Lovely photos of Beloved, Benno and Gardener.

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  59. Here in the Northern lands, I have serious garden envy...but I share your love of compost; when we spread ours out, it's so luscious I nearly want to try a bite.

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  60. What a wonderful account of your work in your wonderful garden, Friko. I too am a compost fan and never throw anything away that I can compost. So glad you had such beautiful weather to work in.

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  61. Well, HERE are some of the photos I requested earlier :) Doggie looks worn out too :)

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