Happy New Garden

If you're not into gardening, then this isn't one for you. Sorry about that, but it gives you more time to tidy up the Christmas chocolates, which is never a bad thing, is it?

If you are into gardening, then imagine you're with me in cold Poole with it's biting North East winds. I know I'm a wimp and it's nothing like as cold as a lot of other places, but it is cold by my standards, and it means long walks along the Harbour are out, because the paths are icy and I don't bounce if I fall. On top of that, my hands and feet tend to go blue despite thick gloves, and cold makes me hurt. Rheumatoid arthritis is such fun, isn't it?

But wait a minute. There is still the garden, which is ready for a major replan with my Christmas money. It started with a raised bed to go under the trees, but that plan derailed because Britain's least favourite delivery company failed to deliver and said what was due on Saturday might be due by New Year's Day, and if it wasn't there by the following Saturday, then I could ask for a refund. Only I didn't want a refund. I wanted my planter, so all my plans to be calm vanished along with my other plans.

I took a deep breath. Then I took a few more. Then I composed an uncalm but very therapeutic email. Lo and behold, it arrived on Monday, only the delivery bloke threw it down so hard that I heard it break as he raced back to his van. So, I'm pretty sure, did he. Back to the firm I went, and I was all the crosser because I thought that it would be delivered by Amazon, cos I'd bought it from them, and Amazon are good, reliable and careful. They offered me a deal of a 50% refun,d and I accepted it, then headed off to Temu and found that they'd got some beautiful raised beds I'd coveted on Amazon but dismissed as too expensive for me. They'd also been reduced to the point where I could buy 5 of them for the cost of one. So I bought six and they should be here by the end of next week. Yay! Good comes from bad, which is one of my favourite beliefs. Okay, good often needs help from me, but that seems fair enough when I'm the one who gets the good.

That meant I needed to clear the garden ready for when they arrived so I got on with that, and came indoors to warm up whenever it got too cold outdoors. It was good exercise, good fun, and gives me good things to hope for for the New Year and even temporarily it looks better for all the leaves, soil and snails being swept up and the solar lights and plants reorganised. I won't plant the plants in them when they arrive and are built, but I will tuck the planters they're in into them, with them raised up with bricks and pot holders till it's warm enough to do it. That'll protect the plants if it is a cold winter and let me change them round till I"m sure I like them. Which I do a lot because that's the joy of a potted garden. It's a bit like Burnam Wood coming to Dunsinane and then heading off somewhere else, and the cats love it because their play areas change.

So see, you've got Shakespeare this week and I'm happy and wishing you a Happy New Year and A Happy New Garden or whatever else you decide you want and are prepared to put the work into getting. There's still loads of work to do in the garden and there always will be, but life is good and I hope it is for you as well.

And here, as always, are pictures of it in its transition stage. Not perfect, but then nor am I. Both of us are better than we were and I know there's better to come and that's enough for now.

Here's the sunken garden all swept and rearranged, with plans made for repotting in spring

And here's the patio taken from the slate garden. The white flowers are solar lighting and even prettier at night.