We mentioned in our Tuesday Huesday post last week that our cherry blossom was due at any time – well here it is! We took this picture on the Sunday before the bank holiday this week when we had that lovely albeit short warm & sunny spell. We spent two glorious days pottering in the garden generally tidying up and replanting red currant, white currant and raspberry bushes that we “emancipated” from Justin’s parents’ old allotment.
Hosta ‘White Feather’ – £9.99 for 2 barefoot plants, Van Meuwen
Maybe it’s the promise of spring that has me thinking about our garden a lot more. In our recent post about planting some fruit trees I mentioned that our shady garden really suits hostas, and we have quite a collection. This year’s new green shoots are just about breaking through the surface of the compost.
I’ve never seen this unusual, striking variety before – it’s called Hosta White Feather – it looks almost albino! It will look amazing in a galvanised metal bucket or dolly tub!
A lot of people say that they love ‘spending time in the garden’, but that seems like quite a broad hobby. Spotting those five words nestled in someone’s Twitter bio usually leads to the assumption that they’re pretty up on their horticultural knowledge, but ‘spending time in the garden’ could mean anything from sunbathing to growing your own vegetables. Nobody makes a point of saying that they ‘love spending time in the living room’, because that doesn’t tell anyone anything. There might be a grand piano or an aquarium in your living room for all we know!
The garden is really just another room of your house, and like the other rooms, what you do with it is entirely up to you. In many ways, it’s a lot more flexible than other rooms; a kitchen will almost always be used for food preparation, a bathroom usually has to contain a bath or shower of some sort, but a garden is almost entirely customisable. Want to pack it with plant life? Go right ahead! Want to put up a hammock so that you’ve got somewhere nice to relax on a hot day? No problem! Want to turn your back garden into a miniature jungle where your collection of exotic snakes can hang out? Hey, why not?
The point is that ‘spending time in the garden’ needn’t be exclusively for the green-thumbed. Gardener’s World may not offer any advice on turning your outdoor space into a skate park, but that doesn’t mean you can’t give it a go anyway. Perhaps you’ll start a trend, and before long there’ll be a cluster of deck-toting skater boys on Twitter whose bios enthuse about how much they enjoy ‘spending time in the garden’.
The garden should be a place that expresses your personality, somewhere for you to do what you enjoy doing and let the world take care of itself for a little while. If you don’t want to deal with all the looking-after that flowers and plants require, then don’t plant any! There are plenty of other uses for that space, and one of them is bound to be perfect for you. You could start a garden statue collection and become the curator of your own personal back yard museum, or just grab a few bits of garden furniture and create a neat little hang-out where you and your friends can share a few drinks when the sun’s out.
It’s time to stop leaving the gardens to the plant people and start using them however we feel like using them. The ideas that this post has touched upon are just the tip of the iceberg, and no matter what your interests are, no matter what sort of person you are, rest assured that there is a way for you to enjoy spending time in the garden. It doesn’t take much to turn it into the best room in the house; gardens may not have a ceiling like all those other rooms, but that’s part of their appeal, don’t you think?
This article was written by Joel Dear, who works as a blogger & copywriter for greensquares. They sell all kinds of fantastic garden products, including outdoor furniture, garden statues, and plenty more besides. Joel is also responsible for the greensquares Twitter page, although their bio makes no mention of ‘spending time in the garden’.
I don’t think we’ll ever win any prizes for our fruit & vegetable growing. This was our second attempt at growing beetroot. This year the roots were slightly more bulbous than the previous, but still not what you’d call monsters!
But we didn’t despair – we decided to make best use of what (little) we had. We used some of the leaves in salad – they look & taste much like spinach, but with beautiful, burgundy stems.
The remaining leaves & stems made a lovely, earthy winter soup – garnished with a little flourish of cream.
The (baby) beetroots themselves were pickled in balsamic vinegar with whole peppercorns – and they were absolutely delicious served with a selection of cheeses and a salad!
We wrote a short blog about growing our own recently…
… or our attempts at least!
How about this for the perfect companion?
This fab 1960s garden DIY annual should help. Even looking at the cover makes us want to get out there and dig!
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