I guess that, in some ways, it doesn’t really matter if the garden is new to me or if I have always been in it. The point is that there is a garden and I am in charge of it. But I think that the garden is my life and how I choose to live my life is reflected in the garden in all of its aspects. So this has always been my garden. I like to think of this garden as a large, sprawling kind of garden with lots of different parts. Full shade in some areas, sunny during a lot of the day in others. Boggy, heavy, clay like soil leading to the overgrown pond but drier soil under the trees. A garden in which there is room to grow, to explore the potential. A garden which could, if properly looked after, provide quiet spaces for contemplation and rest; spots for nature watching, vegetable plots etc etc. A garden which shows previous attempts to tame it, to make it a beautiful place to be. Maybe a beautiful tree that continues to flourish, or some flowers that bloom year after year. Maybe I have put some effort (of the right kind) into some parts of the garden …. but not so much in others. Overgrown flower beds, uneven and broken paths are in evidence. Maybe an old potting shed or two.
So there came a point last year when I stopped and took a proper look at my garden. How was it doing? Was it full of beauty or at least functional? And, as might be apparent, to anyone who has read at least some of this blog, I found that my garden / my life was entirely unsatisfactory in most of its aspects. Some parts of the garden were falling into neglect and disrepair. Some of the garden looked quite pretty on the surface but these were small flowerbeds filled with temporary, garish annuals. Other parts of the garden were functional – these parts “did the job” but were not pleasurable to be in or to look at.
It was time to take stock and decide what I wanted my garden to look like. What I wanted my life to look like.
So – there we have it – part two of the garden metaphor. I am sorry if I am boring you with it but I am quite enjoying writing it. It is making me use my brain, to think more imaginatively – something that I have not done in a long time!