Life in the Garden

I finished sieving the soil in the back garden yesterday. My deepest apologies to the 8 or 9 earthworms I encountered – or maybe it was only 3 or 4, we’ll never know what was their original number and size. The wood chips that got mixed with the soil when we moved the location of the access paths are back where they belong. The rocks will be useful in the bottom of some plastic pots I’m going to put out in the front, to provide drainage below the compost and the peat.

I brutally salted a couple of huge slugs I found in the compost bin. It takes a certain amount of nerve to put your hand into the black hole not knowing what might come out on the spade. I definitely wear gloves for this, being fairly squeamish. I’ve found that dishwashing gloves work best for me. They fit better and I can handle implements and soil and still feel them; I’ve always hated the bulky canvas gloves, though if I had lots of nettles to deal with I might appreciate them more.

I uncovered evidence that a neighbourhood cat likes our back garden. I suspected it when a large plant in a round-bottomed pot didn’t seem to be able to stay upright over night. Later, I found perfectly formed footprints in my sieved soil, outlining the hind feet well planted to leap up on the brick wall between us and Dorothy. In sieving the other end of the garden, beside the compost bin, I found further ‘evidence’, rocks that didn’t sieve very well. Another excellent reason to wear gloves and don’t you know my fruit and veg will be even better washed in future?

Whilst I look forward to the eventual ‘free’ food, all going well, part of me wishes my garden could look more like the neighbours’, Dorothy next door and George behind. I’ve planned for the small area of our garden visible from the back windows to be planted with flowers, vines and attractive plants like runner beans and nasturtiums, but it won’t be nearly as good as theirs, the price paid for having a garage, which they do not.

So, I’ll just hang out the upper windows of my back bedroom and enjoy the view of their well loved gardens. Nice of them to share with me, don’t you think?