Monday 23 May 2011

The Birds And The Bees































The long gap between this post and my last is not entirely due to my slackness, not entirely... it is symptomatic of the length of time it takes to build a garden, however moderately sized, from scratch. Particularly when the building is being done, in the main, by one amateur (occasionally) enthusiast with the odd flurry of help/ hindrance from his better half and her four year old niece.



Still after weeks of proper graft we are moving slowly away from urban wasteland to city retreat, I even saw a real life bee buzzing around today - I kid you not!



As with most things in project squat, our starting point was pretty dire. I don't know how the weeds were managing to grow but they were abundant, what we thought was soil was a combination of razor blades, pegs, hair bobbles, old tiles, bricks and glass - mainly glass. There wasn't a single plant to nurture and the ground was majority poured concrete - if in doubt slap some concrete on it.



We are not there yet but I am in awe and excitement at the progress. We were even able to spend some SERIOUS cash at a garden centre and spend two delightful (for delightful read knackering, no idea how those OAP's do it) days gardening.



Yes we have the floor to lay, yes, yes there is way more planting to be done, of course it still looks like a dumping ground. But in my head I am already out there with my glass of rose in the afternoon sun, the only interruption from my blissful daze, the gentle sway of the grasses and wafts of lavender, with perhaps the odd butterfly fluttering past.