When Stephen and I were shaping our first ever grown up garden we really didn’t know what we were doing. We bought a load of plants and then sort of stood there looking at them. When we started potting them up I started telling Stephen he was doing it wrong, indignant he replied “I thought you didn’t know what you were doing!” and neither had I. But when we began the work I suddenly knew what to do, years of watching my parents garden had taught my hands what to do.
The shining sun beckoned outside today and though we are not quite ready to start our full scale farm veggie plot, I thought it would be lovely for the boys and I to create a little basket for the front step, something colourful to welcome Daddy home with at the end of the day.
A million bells and some geraniums made a lovely and colourful splash on the front step and got me planning and plotting for some more raised beds filled with colourful flowers all summer long. Much as I love my veggies I’m longing for some softer elements this year, petals and scents to tint the heated summer air.
I hope that when the boys are planting their first gardens, their hands will find their way naturally to the dirt and seeds, programmed by years of happy gardening alongside their Mummy and Daddy. If I would wish anything for them it would be this, to know the joy of dirty nails and green leaves, to feel the pull of the earth in the spring sunshine.
Emmalina and Her Unfeasibly Large Bonnet 