Making an initial garden plan when we started our kitchen extension renovations two and a half years ago really helped to focus my mind. My painting wasn’t to scale, and it certainly wasn’t mathematically accurate, but at least I knew what I was aiming for. Of course, setbacks and changes happen. It’s part of gardening (part of life!). We’ve certainly had our fair share. Living in a terraced house, cheek by jowl with other people, means that they’re not all of our making. Just recently, both neighbours have undertaken projects which have changed our outlook.
To the right, a large sycamore tree was felled this winter. It had grown to gigantic proportions in the wrong place, sandwiched between our neighbours’ garden wall and their garage. The roots were causing both to crumble. It had to go, but with that our green backdrop disappeared, a gentle tapestry of leaves and branches which I was fond of. In its place: a bare brick wall.
To the left, a large garden studio is springing up, already taller than our wall. A beautiful wisteria has been partially removed to make room for it. So, another borrowed green view bites the dust. We get on with our neighbours and their projects are not unreasonable in any way. It’s what happens in a town. It just means rethinking, and my mind is whirling with possibilities.
As everything in my garden is in pots and containers, it does mean that I can shift things around easily to compensate for the changes in our view. I have trees in pots which could do with a more spacious setting, so I plan to move a couple of these. A burgeoning fig tree will help to fill the sycamore gap. I will also be using some of my vintage garden pieces to make new and interesting areas. These are proving to be invaluable in my small garden (just 12×5.5m).
I have been collecting vintage garden items for nearly 30 years. I was an early adopter of car boot sales, I love antiques fairs and my new addiction is Facebook marketplace. My old metal green chair has been with me for ages, the result of a dawn swoop at a sadly missed flea market in deepest Lincolnshire. It has served as a plant stand, and as a trellis, I just don’t sit on it very often as it’s extremely uncomfortable! The old chimney pot adds a different level to this little corner, and the flour bin, planted with Veronicastrum, was pilfered from a skip at the recycling centre.
I always look for old terracotta pots of all shapes and sizes. New ones are costly (so are old ones now), but it is sometimes possible to find bargains.
With no space to conceal functional items, I have to make sure that my displays look pretty! These old terracottas, given to me by a friend who was clearing out his mum’s greenhouse, make it easy.
Old zinc is a lovely material to use, because it mellows beautifully and works with the strong pink and purple plants that I love. This £25 job lot came from Facebook marketplace. The seller was kind enough to deliver them as he was on his way to the supermarket! I usually drill the bases of the planters for drainage.
Smaller pieces work well as temporary displays. I do have to make sure that I don’t accumulate so much stuff that my garden resembles an explosion in a junk yard. It’s a constant process of editing. I will sell things on if they don’t fit.
Not everything is a bargain. I bought this terracotta ball from an antiques centre here in Stamford after a recent writing job, where I’d been interviewing antique dealers about gardenalia. We had spoken at length about creating focal points and visual full stops. I filed the idea away, and when I saw this sphere for sale, I thought it would be the perfect addition to my summer garden.
On the other hand, this beautiful herb wheel was a very inexpensive find from a car boot sale. I had never seen one before and I wasn’t even sure what it was. But when I spot a bag full of old terracotta for a tenner, I will take a chance. I’ve now put it together properly, and planted it with crocus, iris reticulata, and dwarf narcissi. After the spring show, I’ll switch to herbs. It’s a very pretty feature on my patio.
I suppose my point is that whatever happens, a garden can adapt and be what ever we need it to be. Views may vanish, so we must create another one. Some plants perish, but something else will thrive. I’ve lost quite a few perennials to vine weevil this year, so as well as cleaning out my pots, and maybe investing in nematodes to control them, I’ll also be searching out more resilient varieties. The honeysuckle which I fondly imagined would quickly clad my walls with sweet smelling flowers is not too happy growing in pots, and it has developed honeysuckle mite, which I didn’t even know existed until last summer. Again, I need to think around the problem.
I will leave you with another painting. This is my dream garden and I spent a few happy hours with this on my easel. Plotting, planning, dreaming, it’s what I do best and I hope I’ll never stop, despite the obstacles which invariably pop up along the way.
