Back In the Wild

Written by Clare 

Friday, 17th May, 2013.

  

Believe it or not, we came back for more gardening.  Our thirst for adventure and exploration just cannot be quenched, and MAJ's garden is the home of both.  As a bonus, it's also (partly) home to the lovely MAJ who is always a pleasure to catch up with!

The garden is currently only accessible by a series of side-doors, each of which is guarded by a troll who poses three riddles.  At least half of that sentence is true.  There's a beautiful moment when you pass the final of (actually only) two doors and you step out into a beautiful mass of what is apparently sweet garlic (see left).  Thanks to MAJ for this piece of gardening knowledge.

As it happens, it does actually smell really strongly of delicious garlic - I just hadn't put two and two together because you don't expect such pretty flowers to smell like a vampire deterrant.  Anyway, this tiny patch is probably my favourite part of the garden so far, so it's a pleasure to pass through it on our entrace and exit.

Then there's a path down to the pond, along which there's a gorgeous plant with red leaves, which appears to be in a very loving relationship with a yellow plant from next door which swoons over the garden fence in order to cuddle it.  

Frankly, we're in love with them.

On our previous play-date with the wilderness, we had focussed on clearing the space around the pond, which also made the scrap heap and the back of the garden more accesible. We decided to spend the majority of the day clearing away the general clutter of the garden, revealing some organic routes which trail around some of the gorgeous features such as the clusters of bamboo or bluebells, both of which became more and more vivid as we cleared around them.  

Adding our first day of work to our second had really begun to reveal some gorgeous intricacies to the layout of the garden and a sense of optimism and excitement.  I was surprised to see so much difference so quickly, and I suspect Daniel and MAJ were too.

The process of clearing the garden had also begun to reveal a selection of items, including a piece of rotten wood impersonating the SS Enterprise, a stick which could double up as a pretty sweet wizard's staff and a mandrake/ent.

More importantly, we were beginning to gather materials which had potential for future use in the garden, including a selection of paving stones which we had reclaimed from various plants in the garden.  Naturally, this took negotiation skills and lots of charm. We began to organise a section of the garden to store these handy materials (also including plant-pots and bark) in the meantime.

I have now dubbed this area "the water feature."

 

There was such a visible difference at the end of the day.  We had cleared a vague path, tidied quite a few sections of the garden and MAJ had begun to formulate a vision of what the garden might look like in the future.  We can't help but believe that this garden will be the best garden on Earth.  In the meantime, while we continue to work towards this inevitable reality, you can enjoy these photos of lovely beasties I found...

 Until next time...

The First Big Push

Written by Clare 

Tuesday, 14th May, 2013.

Today was the first big push in our effort to initate a rejuvenation of the wildnerness outside MAJ's flat - and wow, what a great start.  Having weeded and tidied the front garden in relatively little time, and with only several major accidents including a head wound, MAJ promoted us to work on the back garden.  Frankly, this was much like being promoted from handing out leaflets for a circus, to lion-taming.  We felt way beyond honoured.

Before climbing through a couple of doors into MAJ's Narnia, she admitted that she hadn't actually taken a look at it in a while, and seemed surprised to find several plants she didn't recognise at all.  Meanwhile, Daniel and I were fairly sure that many of the plants had not even been encountered by scientists, and that we were were discovering many new species of plantlife.  

  

This garden is a lost wonder of the world.

Probably.

So, Daniel got on with gathering dead plants, stray twigs and weeds with a giant fork (I believe this is the technical gardeners' terminology), whilst I was armed with a pair of secateurs.  It wasn't long before our hacking away began to reveal ground, and we discovered that the ground was home to a few paving slabs. 

Upon lifting up one of these paving slabs, we found a pair of frogs who had made a burrow underneath, furnished with a load of junk.  If I'm honest, at this point I became somewhat distracted by all of the frogs in the pond and I wound up taking A LOT of photographs of lovely frogs, which is what most of the rest of this blog will consist of...

As beautifully green as it is, our inspection of the pond led to a decision to clean it out, as 80% of it seems to be made out of sticks.  However, I suspect that cleaning it out will be a pretty disgusting experience because it stinks more than anything else on earth.  But the hundreds of frogs don't seem to mind.  Horrible smells or not, we are desperately looking forward to our next session of gardening, and we are very excited about the potential future for this wonderfully wild garden.  It's really nice to think that once we clear a bit of space, it could be a really nice space for MAJ to relax and soak up all of the beauty.

So all in all, it was a productive, lovely day in the garden, and we're all feeling very positive and pleased.  And to top it off, there was a beautiful spot of rain to end the day.  Gorgeous.  And tomorrow we're back to our indoor day-jobs!

....until next time.

Introduction to a Potential Garden Paradise

Written by Clare

A few months ago, I had a brainwave.  I had an idea that would achieve three things:

1. It would be a chance to get outside and get some exercise.
2. It would be a productive activity.
3. It would be a nice gesture for my lovely Auntie Jane, who shall henceforth be referred to by her nickname, 'MAJ' - this point is by far the most important.

My idea was that we could help her to tame her beautifully wild Jumanji garden.  We may not have ANY gardening skills, or even the most basic understanding about plants... but we have enthusiasm, and we have access to some tools.

We hope that this blog will record the transformation of MAJ's garden from an exotic alien landscape (and apparently "death trap") into a wild wonderland with seating.  We hope.