I spend a lot of time lusting over photos of gardens in full bloom. Who doesn’t? I particularly love gardens frothing with flowers that punctuate the green backdrops, with patches of colour inviting closer inspection. I’m drawn to photos of cottage-style gardens showing healthy plants, clean edges around garden beds, and not a single weed to be seen. Spruced up before photography, no doubt.
Most of us don’t have the time nor money to invest that much in our gardens, so we do the best we can with what we have. This is real life (though I am particularly pleased with the section of my garden I planted with a selection of salvias. They are going off and the bees love them!).
I’ve accepted that my garden is a real place, full of successes and some not-so-happy plants. That doesn’t stop me dreaming about what I see in glossy photos. Most of those gardens have a greenhouse or, if they have space, a luxurious glasshouse. Not only does a greenhouse add character to a garden but it’s also immensely practical. Now I finally have one.
It’s only small but I can stand up inside it and it will provide a place to protect my sown seeds and cuttings once the weather cools. We regularly get frosts here between April and October and I’m hoping the greenhouse will provide shelter for cold-sensitive plants. Last winter, I filled my indoor en-suite shower recess with these vulnerable plants for months and it worked well. I’m hoping I won’t have to do that this year.
The night after I set up the greenhouse, I had a vivid dream. In it, I went out to check the cuttings on the shelf were okay. They were, but there was a gnome watering them. As I recovered from the shock of finding a human-sized gnome moving around in my backyard, he started to berate me for letting the pots dry out. He then declared that he had appointed himself chief resident of my greenhouse, solely for watering purposes.
After I woke the following morning, I dashed outside to see if there actually was a gnome. There wasn’t, much to my disappointment, but the pots had dried overnight. I watered them and all was well. My subconscious had been sending me a reminder via a dream.
I wonder how many of those gardens I see in photos have a watering gnome?