I am quietly surprised about how much I love growing fruit and veggies.
I used to think the garden was the domain of the old lady. The lady who’s hours are not filled with children and laundry and meal times – the garden was a nice distraction.
And it is a distraction, one that calls to me constantly at this time of the year.
Now the big jobs and the hard work are done, I potter around out there any chance I get, pulling occasional weeds, admiring flowers, stirring my witch’s brew (fertilizer), tut-tutting over whatever is eating my beans, watering, planting just a few more seeds no matter how late in the season it is.
But it’s more than a distraction too…
The garden is a place where my children collect ingredients for magic potions and poison concoctions.
The garden is a place where I find quiet. Just me and bees buzzing in the nasturtiums…
The garden is a place for secret feasts – berries warm from the sun, peas eaten pods and all, beans in purple and green… eat them right then and there and you won’t have to share!
The garden is a place where I plan and dream and plan some more.
The garden is a place where you find things you didn’t expect – a giant cucumber and six zucchinis that I am sure were not there yesterday.
The garden is a place where you can escape to, and avoid the bedtime routine because you totally forgot to water before dinner.
The garden is a place where money really does grow on trees, and vines, and bushes. It is a source of food that is entirely guilt free.
The garden is a place where I find peace… even when I didn’t know I was looking for it.
So here I am, not quite an old lady, with so much else I need to do, making the garden a priority as well as a distraction… and I am so pleased!
Do you have a garden?
What’s growing in your garden?
What are you dreaming of growing?
I share a lot of photos of our crazy veggie garden over on instagram,
make sure you are following me – @katepickle!
this is a joyful post! Love seeing your garden.
Oh that is such a beautiful garden! Ours is a bit pathetic this year. My peas barely reached knee-hight, and my lovely strawberries and coriander that I BABIED were raided by the duck we adopted (well, the bottom box was…). It’s still a bit early in the season for us though, living in a valley, so we shall see what we get in the way of veggies…
A lovely post… I can relate to this so much! I’m excited that my purple king beans are actually growing up my sweetcorn as per the plan this year. I want to grow everything really.. I have developed a love for scented roses, which also bring so much joy. You have a beautiful garden, for so many reasons!
What a fine garden you have there Kate. How many square metres?
I don’t actually know how big that bit of garden is but we have ten acres here… most of which is just bare paddocks full of weeds. We’ve planted 200 trees in the past 8 years but you can barely tell! LOL
Hi Kate
I can so relate. My garden is my escape. Herbaceous therapy is what I call it. Living in Tokyo at the moment, I can only dream of owning 10 acres for the children to play in, explore or create magic potions.
In the meantime, I’m just going to savour my little 30sqm allotment and keep growing what I can. As its winter, I’m enjoying broccoli and sprouts, but won’t be long before its courgettes for us.
Keep enjoying your garden.
What a pity I can’t send you some courgettes (zucchinis) because I have so many of them right now! LOL And I love the term ‘ Herbaceous therapy’! AFter my dentist visit this morning I am heading out to the garden for a bit of weeding and herbaceous therapy!