Hi there,
Sorry it's been two months since my last blog—I really don't know where the time goes! Actually, I do… it's working, cleaning, and all the not-so-fun things that eat away at my time, just like they do for most of us who aren't working in the trade we would love to.
We've been working on two gardens lately, as well as our own. In one, we're building a pond specifically for nature—the whole garden is designed with wildlife in mind. Most people would hate it, as it appears messy, with plants and trees absolutely everywhere. Personally, I love it, even though you have to watch your step and your head wherever you go! The gentleman who owns it has been planting in it since he was eight years old, and he's now in his 70s—so you can imagine how well-established it is.
Another garden we’re working on belongs to a beautiful cottage. We've been planting lots of bedding plants in pots and creating a herb area. The gentleman I garden for likes to work alongside me so he can learn how to care for it, which I think is lovely. So I guess you can add "teacher" to my CV now too—lol!
Our own garden now has a large selection of plants, shrubs, and trees. Nestling the hostas amongst oregano and other herbs is still deterring the slugs from eating them, thankfully—so I think they actually do hate oregano, or maybe the scent throws them off and they don’t even realize the tasty hostas are there. We've incorporated herbs into a lot of our hanging baskets and planters this year, too.
I had convinced myself that we couldn't have trees, as pretty much everything in our garden is in pots. But that was a complete big fat lie—because you can have trees in pots! Which brings me to the speaker at gardening club last night…
The talk was all about bonsai. Any tree in a pot can be classed as a bonsai—as long as it's pruned and shaped, restricted in growth, and kept in a shallow container. Some of the bonsai were absolutely incredible! The image shown was of a bonsai forest, and if I could have, I would have purchased it on the spot.
I also learned that bonsai trees are actually meant for outdoors—not indoors, as I had first thought. Another surprise was that bonsai actually originated in China, not Japan! A lot of gardening requires patience and care, but bonsai takes that to another level—it can take years to get a bonsai tree to look fabulous. The speaker was so passionate about them and a little sad that he might not ever get to see some of his creations in their full glory.
We have some exciting news that we’re keeping to ourselves for the moment—you’ll find out all about it in one of our blogs or on our Instagram stories very soon!
I wrote my first article for a magazine, and the two people I know who actually read it said it was great. My sister even said she was going to use it for a lesson in my nephew’s homeschooling—that felt like quite a compliment! I'm planning to start my second article soon—I’ve had the idea in mind since the last gardening club meeting a month ago.
We’re still painting art occasionally, and we put our first one onto a canvas as a gift for my former mother-in-law—I think she loved it. I also had another piece printed onto a T-shirt for my youngest son. One day, it would be really nice to make money doing the things I love!
We also had a lovely compliment when someone caught us singing our heads off at work—they actually said I should be in a band! Lol. I do love music almost as much as I love nature. This is the second compliment we've had about our singing—someone else said I had the voice of an angel. I laughed and responded, “A fallen one, maybe!”
We finally got to visit Not Another Jungle’s second plant store in Bedford, and it’s just as beautiful as the first one. Tony, the owner, has a wonderful eye for plants—I think I freak him out a bit, as I talk to him like I've known him my whole life!
Anyway, I hope you're all well. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog—muchos love! x