Garden? What garden?
Wednesday, 9 April, 2008 by mandyjane
I’m not a garden person. I like to look at gardens. I even like to sit in them. But I do not do gardens! Why then, we chose to live in a place that is surrounded by grass, trees and plants of every description, I still do not know.
I’ve had my moments of inspiration. Unfortunately, they are just that. Moments. A bit of clipping here; a touch of raking there, and that’s about it. Most of the time, my “garden” is merely a sea of green, interspersed with fallen autumn leaves and flowering plants fighting for their lives amongst the weeds.
So it was with some trepidation that we decided to hire a gardener. My impression of gardeners is that they are people who love gardens, and the moment one of these people saw our ….. garden, they would run screaming up the driveway, declaring that we were bad people and had no right to have a garden in our care.
However, this wasn’t the case. He was really very nice. He looked around our yard. He remained calm. He even smiled.
“How long have you had that apricot tree?” he asked.
Daniel and I looked at each other.
“Which one’s the apricot tree?” he whispered to me.
The gardener laughed. We figured that was good sign. “So I take it it’s never had fruit?”
Correct.
He moved on.
“So we’ve been pulling these weeds out every time they come up” said Daniel, pointing casually to a green, trailing plant.
“That’s not a weed” said the gardener.
“Oh?” We looked at each other, not really knowing what to say next. “Then why does it just seem to grow a bit wild, like a weed?”
“You need to prune it. You think plants look perfect if you just let them go their own way?”
“Well …. yes. That’s kinda’ what we hoped.”
“Wrong! Plants need care, nurturing, WATER!”
I felt he was about to report us to the Department for the Protection of Unloved Plants.
“So, when can you start?” I asked brightly. “As you can see, the garden needs a little …. care.”
He reached into his pocket. I half expected him to produce a walkie-talkie and request backup. Instead, he pulled out a small diary.
“How does next Tuesday sound?”
“Great!” we said in unison. From somewhere behind me I think I heard some plants clap excitedly.
Ohh! I can’t wait to find out what changes he will make! We bought a house three years ago, and promptly tore out both the front and back yards. Then we drew up plans to have them re-landscaped. They are works in progress, but I do love gardening, and I look forward to the blooms each season.
Thanks Turkey. I can’t wait to see what he does also. Let me say, anything would be an improvement!