Gardener's Boy

James has taken up gardening. All on his own, he took a packet of sweet peas seeds from the drawer, went to the greenhouse and put some compost in a pot and then emptied his packet of seeds into it. He then poured a whole can of water on to it :) How did he know that sweet pea seeds should be soaked before planting?

One of his favourite occupations right now is the ongoing construction of a car park at the bottom of the garden. This is heavily influenced by the fact that a railway station and car park are being built a few hundred yards from our house, and he has spent quite a bit of time studying this process. At his age, however, he is only really interested in the end result, rather than the means by which this will be achieved. He is not yet aware that many trees have been cut down and fields have been concreted over, so this arguably essential train service can be offered. Sadly it means that our the countryside is disappearing as they move along the line.
I do believe that children have an innate love and knowledge of nature, but sadly many do not have the opportunity to use this gift - because so many of these natural and wild spaces have disappeared under such construction projects. I am so glad that at least we have this space where he can learn to nurture and be nurtured by the soil and just enjoy being of the earth.

A Solstice poppy

But pleasures are like poppies spread:
You seize the flow'r, it's bloom is shed;
Or like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white-then melts for ever;
Or like the Borealis, race,
That flit ere you can point their place;
Or like the rainbow's lovely form
Evanishing amid the storm.
Nae man can tether time or tide;

Excerpt from: A Tale.
Of Brownyis and of Bogolis full is this book
(or Tam O'Shanter)
Robert Burns 1791

Hold on tight to the rest of the summer pleasures.
Solstice belssings x

Carry on gardening

Those naughty hens had been sneaking into the veg patch and making a nuisance of themselves, so they are now banished behind some rather attractive (not) security mesh which John has fastened to the existing fence. One disadvantage is that I can no longer take my usual photograph to compare the garden's progress with previous posts. Oh well - her are some different views for a change.
The bean and pea bed in the foreground and the sweetcorn and carrot beds in front. Garlic, shallots and salads can be seen at the 11 0/clock position, and right in the very front, just seen (as they say in magazines) is one of the two brassica beds - well I like a lot of kale and purple sprouting broccoli :)



Here you can see the brassica beds - one with some netting draped over it - I have made it more secure and plugged the gaps now, and the very bottom bed will have leeks planted out - you can see the plug tray sitting waiting. Three types of leeks, which will hopefully keep us going from late summer until next May. I have not been very good at keeping the seeds I have planted list up to date, but I am sure the leeks are on that.
The yellow pots contain blueberry bushes, and we generally have a good long crop from them, but only really enough to pick and eat straight off the plant. Will look at increasing these over the next year or so.
So - very very busy - hope you are all enjoying the rush.