welsh hills again

Today I lay on a rug under a tree.  It was a huge sycamore which stands in the boundary hedge of our field. The sun was so hot I was driven off the garden and into the shade where the grass was cool.  I dug an old check rug out of the bakehouse where we keep outside things for the holiday cottage and spread it out.  I brought out my book and a big glass of elderflower cordial and lay down and looked up into the tree.  It soared above me like a huge green cathedral. When did I stop lying down on a rug in the garden?  When I was a child I loved eating outside and a cheese sandwich, a packet of crisps and an apple was immediately transformed into a picnic by eating on a rug.  As a teenager I spent hours lying in the sun, seeking the perfect tan.  I remember trying to revise for my A levels on a rug in the garden and eventually giving up as I squinted in the sun and my papers blew about in the breeze and snoozing for half an hour before going rel...

I have been mulling away about why I garden and almost sat down to do a philosphical muse but somehow I find I have so much to do outside that I can't spare the time. Must be a moral in there for another time! So I thought I would share some of what is pleasing me in the garden today. This is the new bed in the side garden, still full of foliage and, astonishingly, some of the white foxgloves which were thronging it in mid summer. Last year this area was a building site and after much digging and clearing this is what it looked like in spring this year. The blueberries are turning a fabulous colour. We have had fruit this year for the first time and the bushes have had to be covered against the hens. It is wonderful to see the turning foliage without a draping of green netting. At this time of year the hens are welcome in the garden as they scratch about in the empty beds. The trees are starting to turn too. The sycamore is always first and this year is a buttery gold. Logs are s...