hello lovely people. it feels strange and wonderful this little place on the internet, where a few quiet people read another person's thoughts and ideas, slipping their feet into my shoes for a brief moment, imagining a different life, or feeling as though their ways of being are validated.
it really is both strange and wonderful. anyhow, thank you for sharing with me today, for joining in, for being part of the community and conversation in this big world.
today is a simple blog post full of photos of my garden. and whilst probably only about 20 people will read this, i hope each and every one of you finish reading this and feel inspired to grow something more next season. because quite frankly, we are made to be nurturers of this earth, we are made to look after it, and if you don't believe that you were made for it, then even by happenstance of your existence, we ought to protect it for the sake of future generations, and if you don't believe that, then just simply believe that it does you immeasurable good to spend time in nature, shaping it and just being with it.
this year i've found my garden really humbling. lots has gone differently than i expect, a few failures, and lots of lessons. in previous years i've gone full pelt at the garden and really been 'in charge' and also put in lots of new plants, but this year i've taken a small step back, not added as many new things, and watched it at work.
i've found the garden to really look after itself in lots of ways this year, by there simply being more plants in the borders, with lots of variety of colour and shape and size, there's a home for almost every type of bug imaginable, and they really do keep themselves in order, the large eating the little, the circle of life. i haven't had too many problems with "pests", and i've found that a good spray with the hose on jet wash mode seems to work wonders in most cases, and a spray of soapy water to work on the rest.
usually my roses are plagued with little green bugs and often the rosebuds get eaten before they can flower, but this year, they've not had any pests at all, so they've been spectacular and so easy. i've also been able to harvest some of them for culinary uses - i made a watermelon and rose petal jam, from the gorgeous Tessa Kiros cookbook Falling Cloudberries, one of my all time favourites.

this autumn i am going to put on compost and manure and mulch like i've never done before, as the garden i think is lower in nutrients than it otherwise ought to be. i only use a seaweed fertiliser very occasionally, and then just cross my fingers that things will be happy, and this year i think they're a bit undernourished. hopefully the larger water butt i'm after will finally come back into stock and we can connect that all up too so i will have more of the good water and less of the dodgy chlorinated stuff.
i am hoping i will get to doing a garden tour in the autumn this year, because i've never videoed it and it usually looks so beautiful in early september. but for now, i've got to try and keep things alive in this heat without overstepping my water bill budget.
if you're interested in a little video tour, here's my latest on YT...
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