Embracing disease

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Dear Monty, Anne, Charles, Noel, James, Alison ... and anyone who may be out there,

Is there anyone out there ?



To embrace the ravages of change by disease or fight ? - That is the question.

I have learnt to wait for nature's cure.

There is plenty of misery to be had if I aim for 'perfection' in the garden. I once hated daisies and other 'weeds' in the lawn but now I embrace them.






When I first noticed fungal disease burning through the old privet boundary hedge I panicked and felt that the garden was infested and doomed, but the inertia this created in me actually turned out to be a blessing because in what seemed to be a relatively short time opportunistic trees and shrubs begun to replace the privet. Buckthorn, hazel, hornbeam and honeysuckle. Even the privet revived !

The apple tree is always affected by brown rot - but then some years are worse than others, perhaps I should cut it down - yet it supports three mistletoe plants which come into their own in winter.

I have come to the place in my life where I embrace the vagaries of the natural world in my small back garden.
Admittedly I still edit out the worst of the damage and let the plants that fade - fade. The ones that remain seem to resist or defy the various diseases and insect attacks.
I know that I am at fault a lot of the time for planting things in the wrong places making them more vulnerable - but I am learning which plants do well and it makes me grow in confidence and I truly like the results.















Take heart, a garden can remain a garden despite pests and diseases.



Paul.


Comments

  1. Anne Wareham18 July 2015 at 23:07

    Think that's just what I said in Squirrels! Great minds, eh? Xxxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paul Steer18 July 2015 at 23:39

      Oops..... I need to read it Anne - shame on me :(

      Delete
  2. Elizabeth Musgrave19 July 2015 at 16:17

    Looks good to me. I have come round up the view that if something wants to die, it will. Not much point stressing about it. The result is that I have a garden full of rampaging thugs which need a severe hacking now and then. Love the throne!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paul Steer19 July 2015 at 23:53

      Yes a lot of hacking goes on here too Elizabeth - but I see it as sculpting and it feels cathartic. My bum is going to fall through dad's bench soon !

      Delete
  3. Diana Studer19 July 2015 at 19:49

    yes to all that. Our lemon tree has aphids, lots of black sooty mould under the leaves. Happy bands of white eye birds harvesting their lunch. And today I picked 15 large lemons with MANY more to come.
    (I'm here because StatCounter tells me A Reader came from your site)

    ReplyDelete

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