The cultural capital of gardening

From time to time over the past few years I have been moved to consider how much cultural capital is involved in the process of gardening. While most of the committed gardeners I know do use books etc to gather information - there is an element of handed down knowledge which forms a foundation to work from.

A couple of weeks back Ana decided she was going to grow some vegetables this year and as the rest of us are so erratic in our care of growing things she would commit to seeing this through. So on a lovely sunny day we finished clearing out some overgrown corners and went on a shopping expedition. We got all kinds of things to plant and throughout the process I noticed how much there was to learn from her perspective. Things like how far apart to space plants, providing trellis for climbers to grow up, not planting certain things to early, checking for sun. A lot of that information is on the labels of seedlings but I also know it from watching my parents and grandparents garden.

My cleaner is also providing garden labour at the moment - she enjoys gardening but is learning herself so it's a two way process of me showing her how and where to do/plant things and her experimenting.

In the meantime my persistently enthusiastic and green thumbed youngest exercised his growing muscles digging out the root system of a couple of old hebes that we took out.

Picking daisies...the garden

One of my resolutions, if you could call them that, for having a better quality of life is to take the moments to appreciate the garden. Because there is usually something beautiful to find there.



This past weekend I was faced with the annual decision about the iris that grows along the front of one of the borders. I think it probably started at the base of the tree and has spread. I really need to take them out and maybe move them but they seem to flower just as I get my spring gardening burst and I can't bear to disturb them. They are such a beautiful purple blue - a colour it is hard for the camera to capture.

The motivating factor this year is all the annuals I planted behind them. I'm feeling particularly pleased that the poppies have taken so well in that spot. One of my many failings as a gardener is that I make emotional choices about what I plant. Poppies are one of my favorite flowers from the time I was about five years old. We were living in Oteramika (about half an hour out of Invercargill) and I can remember watching the poppies out the window while I was sick in bed. I liked the combination of the bright colours, their dark heart and the papery texture of their petals. The first time I tried to grow them in our previous house they were all stolen, but I've had more success here. This one isn't standing tall and hasn't got a dark centre but it's still beautiful and looks like the first of many. Poppies are a real picking daisies flower that you have to stop and appreciate in the moment as they dont last long.

As well as the poppies the other flowers that always find a home in my garden are pansies.
Like poppies I can still remember when I first decided that pansies were beautiful flowers. I was only about three years old and was playing in the garden of our house in Rawene when I stopped to admire the pansies in a border. I've only just realised they have a dark centre too - maybe this is some deep Fruedian thought.
I should have planted more of these pansies in this spot ... I have scattered the contents of the punnet all over the garden.

This weekend has been quite buzzy...

I have achieved a whole lot of things that have been in my face (or hidden behind a cupboard door but I KNEW it was there) for awhile.

I'm not sure if it is of first importance but maybe it was prophetic that RJ (my amazing stylist!) reckoned I was far more relaxed than usual when he was giving me one of his magic scalp massages on Friday. But it has turned out to be the kind of weekend you have when there aren't a trillion work pressures sitting on your shoulder.

I got out and did some gardening - and had time to admire my pretty flowers (another post in that) as well as clearing masses of overgrown shrubbery. I rewarded myself with a trip to the garden centre and found the LAST kakabeak which I have wanted for sometime to go in one of the big holes I have just made in the shrubbery.

I had an assessment at the gym - now there would be some, including me to be honest, who could wonder why I would invest in yet another gym membership given how slack I am at actually using it. But I wonder if this time might be different because for once my motivation is quite specific on something that is actually meaningful to me. Basically my long term goal is to be able to do a day's ski-ing without feeling like every muscle I have is going to go on strike.

We had another family around for dinner last night (admittedly that was Jon's idea) but it was laid back and relaxing and easy...like time with friends should be when we make the time.

I was catching up with my December 98 friends and was inspired by Lise to spend an intense twenty minutes cleaning out a laundry cupboard - one tiny step closer to an organised life! (thanks Lise)

And of course last but not least I spent quite a bit of time creating my own blog header (the butterflies come from a cool kit called Poppy Fields designed by Lauren Bavin at Digital Scrapbook Place

So that's my start and tomorrow it's back to work.