'Things are made to fade and fall away' ( Eliza Carthy)

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Dear Monty,




We had very mixed weekend weather during the NGS opening of the Coal Tip Garden. Thank you for all those who visited and supported Rhos y Bedw too, the support and encouragement was amazing. You missed out Monty !




As much as we would like to think that gardens, our bodies and our buildings remain for ever - we all know about the fading and falling away ! I had to post a 'CAUTION' sign on the old pergola near the shed which has been falling down for a number of years. The shed houses some gardening tools - and my mower but has always been in my fantastic mind - a summer studio. The potential is there but the flesh is weak. I did once make a large fresco panel in that shed which has been sitting on a beautiful conservatory wall of a friend for some years, but that was about it. Since then the roof has begun to sag and the rain now gets in - in short it is a ruin.

During the open garden weekend I had some really interesting chats with fellow struggling garden makers; there is a kind of bond between us - they could see that there was no perfection here - and this seems to be an encouragement - perhaps more encouraging to others than 'perfection'? It was while talking about my falling and fading away shed that a neighbour and his keen garden maker partner said that they were throwing out a quantity of wrinkly tin roofing - alleluia ! So now I have the means to rebuild the roof, and hopefully it will not fall for some years to come - and I may also get a feature at the end of the garden that is sorely needed.






All of our gardens try to get away from us, and that was why it was so good to chat about it and be honest about our struggles. I enjoyed telling people that it is OK to have 'weeds' and the lawn doesn't have to be perfect. People seemed to think my garden was a lot of work - it really isn't .

I was also heartened that another 3 gardens are going to potentially join the scheme in the village - this is great because this ex-mining community needs a boost. We managed to raise over £200 even though the weather was dreadful on Saturday.

Diolch

Paul

Comments

  1. JohnK12 June 2017 at 18:20

    I need to point out that my blog was written before I read yours. You'll understand when it, hopefully, auto-publishes at 19.57 (cos that's the time I finished it last night). Nice to know that I can get lost four times as much next year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Charles Hawes12 June 2017 at 18:25

    The garden was looking splendid. Hope the corrrugated sheets are useful. Though where will the light come from? Or will you use it on the sides?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paul Steer12 June 2017 at 22:53

      Hopefully when the pergola comes down there will be more light through the window - may get patio doors instead of the window and door !

      Delete
  3. Anne Wareham30 June 2017 at 13:53

    Well done and I'm sure you're right. You are educating as well as delighting! Xxx

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    Replies
    1. Paul Steer30 June 2017 at 23:48

      You educated me first Anne ☺ I bought a book in a second hand bookshop in Hawes called Gardens of Illusion - it was interesting to see photographs of Veddw in the early days and to read how you hoped it would look once the hedges had grown - your vision came into being ! X

      Delete
    2. Paul Steer30 June 2017 at 23:49

      This comment has been removed by the author.

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