You Have to Be Doing it To Feel it
I’ve been pondering, whilst confined to barracks due to inclement weather, what makes a gardener? There are those who enjoy their gardens and are happy to hand over the reins to a professional to keep it maintained. And there are those who enjoy the physical act of gardening. I don’t even think you have to be particularly knowledgeable about gardening to count yourself a gardener, only that you enjoy having a go. But whether pottering or getting stuck in, you have to be doing it to feel it!
I’m never more sure of my passion for gardening than when I’m not able to do it. Whether it’s my own or my clients’ gardens, early January finds me kicking my heals, impatient to be back outside. The lure of the soil is almost a physical pull. Every day, regardless of the temperature, I walk through my garden, looking for signs of life in the borders, in the greenhouse and on the Catio. I delight in the new shoots of snowdrops, crocus, iris reticulata, chionodoxa and puschkinia poking through the soil, the promise of precious colour in the dreariest months to come. I will mess around in the greenhouse, removing yellowing leaves from overwintering perennials, more for the sake of getting my hands dirty than necessity. I will sweep and sweep again the Catio, deadheading and rearranging the pots as I go; there’s always a better arrangement to be created. If it’s lashing down, a spot of on-line plant hunting feeds my imagination: A-Z of Beth Chatto perennials hits the spot.
I think one of the reasons I love roses so much is that you can prune them in the winter! Climbers done, the bush roses can be hard pruned now. Time was, you wouldn’t start before Valentine’s Day, but these days it’s safe, here in London, to start from mid-January. Apple trees, wisteria, fig and grape vines can all be pruned now too, whilst in their winter dormancy.
Being in the fresh air, on a crisp, sunny day, with bird song echoing through the stillness, is balm for the soul. As I weave in and out of the pared down winter borders, pruning and shaping as I go, I relish my contact with the earth beneath me and the silence surrounding me. We gardeners absolutely know what it’s like to be in the moment.