Another Year of Nurture

Today I paid my annual allotment fees, proving my commitment to my allotment garden (and myself) for another whole year.

So, with my commitment to my plot, can I also commit to this blog I wonder? 

Looking back, I did not do too well last time!   But I think this time will be different.  

Whenever I visit my little plot I shall take my video camera with me, and I will post my Plot Progress!

Yup, I was happy to pay the allotment fee (although some plot-holders feel it's too high).  But for me, the price for my own personal piece of nature to nurture is a bargain.

It's not just my allotment garden that receives the nurturing, it is my very soul.  I just love being there, listening to the wind, the birds, and watching the life all around me.

---oo000oo---

This Saturday was warm and sunny, so I paid my little garden a visit.  The most exciting thing for me to see was that the bees are still alive! They were busily bombing in and out of their nest in the compost heap.

Why did I think they weren't alive?  

Well, I had had some help from a friend some months back, and unfortunately she unknowingly buried the bees nest under a huge pile of cleared weeds and hacked down brambles.  

She, quite rightly, thought she was just putting rubbish on a compost heap, not on a bees nest.

Anyway, I tried to play it down, but secretly I was horrified.  I thought the bee's home had been totally crushed.  

I watched helplessly as the worker bees returned to their home, only to find the entrance completely gone.  They searched in vain for a way in, as I tried to clear the 'rubble' off the nest, but the foliage had entwined itself and it was impossible.

I thought that was It for the bees.

But lo and behold, this weekend, there they were again!  I feel so relieved.

So here is a video of my beautiful bees, to-ing and fro-ing - and of me, rabbiting on about them.

What does this 'bee thing' say to me?

It says that the bees are more resilient than I gave them credit for.  That they and their hard work are not easily destroyed. 

That even if their nest was destroyed, they built it back up again.  

Last but not least, that one person's rubbish heap is another's haven or work of art.

---oo000oo---

I feel as though I have been given a reprieve, not just the bees. The message for me, is that there is always another opportunity to start again - and to build things up again, better, and stronger.

This kind of ties in rather well with my old website, that I felt I'd outgrown, and with the new website that I have now created. 

The old website was a little cluttered and full of all kinds of things.  If it interested or inspired me, up it went on the site.  

I think this made it a little hard to decipher exactly what I was offering.  Perhaps it looked a bit like a jumbled compost heap.

The new website is much more planned and organised.  I think it's now a clearer picture of what I do, and what I'm about.  At least I hope so.  It's ever evolving, just like my garden.

I really wish I'd kept up with this "Growing with My Garden" blog, and posted about what's been going on in my life these past months.   

But, for whatever reason, I didn't.  And I have decided not to beat myself up about it.

Instead, I am going to start again, like the bees.

A New Beginning - and befriending the snails!

I've just paid my allotment fees for the coming year. I see this day as a new beginning. Another chance to make the allotment work, to keep it maintained, and to create beauty and abundance - and order - there.

But I like a bit of wild disorder too!

I love being surprised by the sudden emergence of marigolds, nasturtiums or buttercups - or the chard, sprouting from the bottom of the compost heap.

It's true that once you commit to something it can really take off. I know that when I have committed to regular time and energy down the allotment, it has looked really good.

 I remember thinking, "Hey, this is easier than I thought! I just need to come here more often…".

My plot, or Allotment Garden as I like to call it, is only half the size of a regular plot. Yet still, I used to find it hard to maintain. But it's got progressively easier over the years, and I feel really excited about all the potential for the year ahead.

When I got back from the plot yesterday evening I felt really pleased with myself. I'd spent all afternoon clearing out my shed. It's the annual rubbish collection this week and this is the first year I've made the collection deadline.

The shed looks absolutely great. Everything is now in order and neat and tidy. This is going to be my best year yet!


I was totally alone at the plot - I love that. Even though it was warm and sunny, there was no-one around. Mind you, I was so busy clearing out the shed, I probably wouldn't have noticed anyone else!

As soon as I started to work I felt boiling hot and had to peel off my coat and cardigan. I worked for hours, non-stop, and I have to say (yet again) that I feel really pleased with what I achieved. I'm so glad I made the effort.

As a journal assignment, Rachel, my coach, asked me to consider the difference between 'feeling good' and 'fulfilment'. Well, doing the shed feels like fulfilment. It's something achieved and 'a job well done'.

It would have been great if I'd also raked up all the leaves and pulled up my dead runner beans and marigolds, but, I decided "You've done great Claire, that's enough for one day".

In clearing the shed, I rescued quite a few snails from going into the rubbish. They were attached to a lot of the stuff I was throwing away. I wasn't sure if any were alive, but picked them off anyway. I put some on a low wall and others on some concrete slabs.

The low wall was sheltered with foliage but the slab wasn't, so I gently placed some leaves over the snails as a camouflage. I must be a little crazy. I don't know any other gardeners who rescue snails. I don't know what it is, I just kind of like them.

As I looked back to the low wall, I saw one with its little neck and head out of its shell, eye stalks waving, slowly crawling away. At least one was alive then I thought, and I felt really pleased by that.

I came across quite a few spiders too amongst the plant pots and old carrier bags. One dived into a pile of dead ivy on the wooden shelf I'd just cleared. I was going to clear the shelf of the dead leaves but decided to leave them a little longer, as I didn't want to disturb him.

The ivy is growing inside the shed as well as out. I'm fairly easy with it as I think it's one of the things that is holding the shed together! I cut away ivy from the floor and the shelves but left the rest. I was about to cut one piece and suddenly changed my mind, thinking "No, you're not doing any harm there, you can stay".

I swear my garden plants communicate with me "Please, stop! Spare us!" I often get these feelings. If I don't take note of them, the next moment I either get stung by nettles, pierced by thorns, or have tiny flies dive bombing my eyes and trying to get into my ears. My garden does fight back if I'm not respectful.

I think my allotment garden is happy that I am not an ultra tidy gardener. I like a bit of greenery around the edges. For example, the shed has no window-glass and no door, and the ivy gives both openings a soft and beautiful green edge or 'frill'.

From the outside, the shed looks like a big green bush. Blackberry-bramble and hawthorn grow over it. My shed is Small Bird Heaven. They nest in the ivy and there is an abundant supply of insects and spiders and, later, blackberries.

When I trim the hawthorn I use the prickly twigs to protect my pea and bean seedlings. It works. I don't know whether it deters pigeons, mice, rats, slugs, or snails. But whatever ate them before, doesn't eat them once the hawthorn is in place.