A monthly diary of activities in Susan’s Garden.
Photo heavy, text light, following a natural timeline.
So what next? After the virile displays of spring and summer, the garden, detumescing, slips into an autumnal reverie. And Susan? Well, I can’t speak for her, but I can observe her reaction: her thoughts have turned immediately to renewal, a sense of urgency about the need to repeat the adventure, only just half over, of a year in her garden. In short, she’s thinking of spring - next year. Without the photographer this time!
I catch her, pencil in hand once again, scheming to bring a bit of order to the wildflower garden in the back forty. And before the morning shadows have lifted she’s off, cutting canes from the conveniently-placed (but unruly) bamboo patch, digging out the nastiest of les mauvaises herbes (weeds to us), and laying a grid that creates a pattern of squares, each one separated by the precise width of the mower. Thus will there be both improved access and greater visual order. A month later, the work continues.
By the time the job is finished, each line cast with a fine eye, it’s time for coffee.
Shovelling Shit
And if the garden is to grow next year, then it must be fed. As the Yorkshire farmer might observe after a good harvest “aye, it was good, but think of the strain on the soil lad”.
So off Susan goes, remorque* in tow, destined for a field near the local centre equestre, or to be more exact, a large heap of horse ordure, which has been patiently cooking under a blanket of hay for a number of years. Fragrant stuff!
*Remorque!
And on that note, Susan takes a holiday, confident that the garden will in time be ready for the travails of winter. Enjoy the slide show during the intermission - back in a month.
