We are in the first week of 2018 and tradition dictates that I should be setting myself new year's resolutions that I will fully intend to carry out and yet (more often than not) fail to do so. I cannot remember when I last bowed to that dictat and set any resolutions as I tend to take the view if there is something I need to be doing I should get on with it and not wait for some specific date. Anyhoo, that said, the winter months are great for planning ahead for the garden. January in particular I always find overly gray and it can be hard to get into the garden, so pondering what the year may hold for the garden is a useful exercise.
Pondering - not resolving -this is absolutely completely and totally different to setting resolutions.....
As mentioned previously I have now been in this garden for ten years. I love (nearly) every inch of this garden and it is a very important part of my life. Even if the weather means I cannot usefully do much in the garden, if nothing else I will still go for a wander; checking how things are growing, looking for what is new and lamenting what is in decline. This routine sustains me. At the moment the wandering and pondering are in full swing. For these things I know....
.....the front garden needs work. The lavender edging is past its sell-by date and needs replacing. I just cannot decide what with. I could just do like-for-like and replace with fresh lavender plants. This is tempting and not impossible as I enjoy walking through the lavender and smelling its scent. I enjoy seeing the bees and butterflies fluttering through it in the warmer months.......and yet, and yet, maybe it is time for a change? I have wondered about maybe using sarcocca instead? I love the scent and it would make a great small edging hedge. I have also wondered about not having an edge at all; but then I can see people just cutting across the Knot Garden to get to the front door. When I say people I do include myself in that, so even as I tut at the thought of it I wonder if it is such a bad thing?
I also think that the back garden is due a new something, a new addition. I do not know what or where, but I hear the sound of the start of changes ringing away.So watch this space, the year will unfold and decisions will be made. Much will stay the same and some things will change - for these things I know.
