The 'what' the 'where' and the 'when'.......?

More about our first spring and what goes where and when. The days are getting longer and I'm itching to get going.

As I am clueless as to what to do next I decide to go to a garden centre for answers. This time there are no fancy baubles to distract me and my quest to find the right plants for the season. Think again!

I walked into a world of commercial gardening at its best. Where there were packets of this, bags of that, sacks of the other. A huge array of products to help things grow; help kill things - plantlike and animal/insectlike; any number of varieties of garden tools, manual and mechanical; outdoor clothing, gloves, boots, aprons; some books; pots and containers not to mention garden furniture to die for; oh boy! and we hadn't even got to the plant section!

I had decided that anything I saw in a garden centre at any given time, would be OK to buy and plant. So that sorted out the 'when' factor. The 'where' came off the label on the pot/packets by way of these handy little symbols.

The plant section was vast and bewildering. I made yet another decision. If I liked the look of the plant, I would then and see if the plant would fit somewhere in my garden. So that's the plan.


Resisting the temptation to buy everything I liked, I bought some conifers to form a small hedge to define the upper section of the garden.

As my first foray into the English way of gardening seemed to be quite successful, I felt a bit of remodeling of the garden was within my capabilities.



I had spotted some plants I thought would do very well in a rockery at the base of the tree. At the end of some digging, clearing and finding some rocks. I had a small rockery.

Snow, sun and mountains

The last post was about spring. While composing it, a glance outside belied my words and memories. My dog was out in the snow. Fortunately he has a lovely warm coat against the prolonged low temperatures we are experiencing.



At the same time I was watching the cricket on the TV. England versus South Africa. Day 2 the temperature was hovering around 40 deg C. Every time I saw that fantastic Table mountain in the middle of the screen, I knew where I would rather be!

Spring is sprung.....

Indeed spring is here, time to get myself out of a heated house and into the garden. We had survived our first winter in the West Midlands and I was rearing to go. Everywhere i went, evidence of the winters' grip on the land was waning.

Daffodils were ever where in abundance; on the roadside, peoples front gardens, on the village greens in large beds, in the most unusual places as if the someone had scattered thousands of bulbs in random fashion. Magnificent! With the daffodils the hyacinths and the tulips. To me when the daffs. come out, I know the winter is over and this never fails to give me a lift.

da grass is riz...... Our garden had a small lawn in the front. At the back the garden was split leveled; a patio next to the house then lawn, with beds on three sides. a few steps leading to the lower, larger section of flower beds with lawn in the middle. A fairly standard garden design.

Cutting the grass is something I generally enjoy. I began cutting grass when I was eight. We had a nice flat lawn which cut easily, hence a job my dad thought I could manage. Lawn cutting can be very therapeutic; the noise of the engine allows one to shut oneself off from the world and be alone with one's thoughts.

Raking up the grass. Not my favourite job but had to be done. Good exercise for the tummy muscles, I'm told.

Now I wonder where dem boidies iz?