Usually at about this time of year my enthusiasm for gardening wanes. After a busy Summer of sowing, weeding, harvesting and generally hacking back the undergrowth, I feel the need for a rest, and the cooler and wetter weather further dampens my enthusiasm for being outside. I tend to retreat inside and tell myself that I’ll get back to gardening in the Spring when things start happening again. The trouble of course with this plan is that I start the Spring season with so much left undone that I feel that I am constantly rushing to keep up. Somehow gardening starts to feel like a race and I envy those prepared gardeners who have everything in place in March and simply do what needs doing at a reasonable pace.

However, I am glad and excited to say that this year feels different. For a variety of reasons, this Autumn feels like the beginning of a gardening adventure, with the possibility of starting new projects that will come to fruition in the Spring and Summer of next year.

While many people spent the lockdown tending to their gardens and finding more time to be outside, I had the opposite experience, as I struggled to keep up with work and family commitments. Life at home was rarely peaceful, and while it was wonderful to have our outdoor space, I had little time and energy to tackle all the jobs and maintenance that this garden requires, let alone staring new projects and creating new spaces. Perhaps it was also the general stress that we were all living under, but I often had a growing sense of panic that the garden was somehow ‘getting away from me’ and while I rationalised about having a ‘wild’ garden, the thistles and nettles really irritated me- often literally!

This Spring we also had extensive flooding and I thought I would never love my garden again in the same way as I waded through nearly a foot of water just to get to my shed and greenhouse. Happily however, I only lost a few specimen plants and most of the garden has recovered well.

So now, as we approach Samhain and the end of the year I am feeling unusually optimistic and full of energy and ideas. I also feel incredibly lucky to now have regular help in the garden from Nicola Harris (Instagram: gorgeousgardens_by_nic) who not only willingly attacks the maintenance tasks that I need help with, but is equally full of enthusiasm for this garden and the ideas that I share. It is so good to have another keen gardener who appears to be happy (or at least smiles!) as I ramble on about my latest gardening schemes!

So what am I planning?

First of all a large pond to be seen from the house, offering a whole new viewpoint and home for wildlife. I also plan to plant a few more trees, especially a walnut tree and some more fruit trees. I am considering an ‘ephemeral pond’ at the end of the garden with reeds to mimic a fenland landscape (and to act as a mitigating drain if/when things get very wet again in the Winter) and I’m updating the pergola area near to the pond, as a new sheltered sitting area.

I am also hoping to keep up this blog more regularly, to chart my progress and as a journal to contain my ideas.

So to all you fellow gardeners and interested friends Happy New Year!!! Look out for the upcoming changes. I’m already clearing the land for the new pond and I have to say the garden already seems more spacious and light in the middle section.