I was hale and hearty twenty years ago when we moved into this cottage and determined to have a decent garden...so I set to with a fork and spade and began digging up what was really a small field...
Himself thought I was potty.
But I was going to grow veggies and keep hens as we'd done in the previous cottage and the fact I was beginning with a field full of ruts from tractors and miles of black silage plastic half buried in the earth was simply a bit of a nuisance.
The stuff I unearthed...small pieces of broken china and the handles from iron cooking pots...many, many fragments of clay pipes and once an entire pipe, complete with stem and the bowl. Dark green poison bottles and earthenware pots...and so many old donkey and horse shoes that I stopped counting. There were ancient leather boots and a shoe last...the lids from the cauldrons and perfect china tea-cups...old iron nails without heads and those rough pottery jars which once held marmalade...
I saved everything...nothing was too small or insignificant...
Sometimes I came across big stones that I later used to mark out pathways and we ordered a polytunnel and had two pleasant Germen men put it up properly...
We bought half a dozen Ducks who paddled about happily munching the slugs I unearthed and they lay eggs I sold at the gate...
Then the earth was raked and planted with leeks and carrots and cabbages...someone came by one afternoon and gave us a dozen Plane trees that Himself planted along side the river...and I bought a sack of Daffodil bulbs to plant under the trees...
I planted Lupins and Parsley...bright Scarlet Poppies and Woad...stands of Fennel and Honey-Suckle wherever there was a suitable space...barrowed small stones to make the paths and chose the most scented old Roses to ramble over the fences and the stone built sheds...
It was lovely...there were those odd little Humming Bird Hawk Moths that fly by day and crowds of Peacock butterflies and dozens of tiny appealing Field Mice...
Enough Strawberries and Gooseberries to make jams...Blackcurrants for wine and Red-Currants for sauces...
People used to wander about sniffing and were reluctant to leave...
But then I was admitted to hospital and Doctors sucked their teeth and poked me with needles and x-rayed my chest and they sighed heavily as they held the plates up and prodded me some more.
That was three years ago and my garden began to decline...it's mostly grass now...though the Phlox are still there and so are the stately Elecampanes...the Roses bloom in profusion but we don't have fresh veggies anymore...apart from whatever Himself grows in the tunnel.
Of all I miss the most through this wretched illness, it is the garden. I'd be out there from first light until it grew too dark to see anymore...now I have pots of herbs and flowers that I can reach easily but it isn't quite the same...
The photograph is of the New Dawn rose around the old pig sty door...
it sounds so blissful and understand how you must miss it xxx
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I was a bit nostalgic when I wrote it...
Oh! Vashti you have soft old me in tears tonight reading what you put and how you put it I was almost with you walking under the shade of those Plane trees smelling the flowers you planted and that picture of the roses almost came alive in my mind and I almost could smell their sweet fragrance, a thousand thank you and may you be with us some time yet to write your daily memories, I know how hard it is for you to be hioked from your garden dad was the same at the end of his life and he always had a rose garden.
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You'd love those roses Anthony...they have such a lovely perfume...
Gardens are so precious, we have moved house many times and it is always the gardens I miss. I can dream though and in my mind wander those paths and smell the roses. We are about to move again to a smaller house and garden. I shall miss this garden but I am looking forward to being within walking/buggy distance of the village and public transport. Life should be easier! Your garden sounds so lovely thank you for sharing it with us, it is so tough not being able follow our passions! x
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It'll be much better for you won't it...but I know what you mean about leaving gardens behind...
How lucky you have been! It sounds so perfect, so delightful - it must be difficult for you. Thank you for sharing your idyllic life. Long may you continue xxx
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Not sure whether it was by luck or chance you know...or simply following a dream...
Hi Vashti, I won't say I enjoyed reading this because truth is, it made me really sad. Sad for you, sad for me and for everybody else afflicted with lung disease. It's really hard to have to give upthe things you are passionate about but I suppose we have to go with the flow ( or the non-flow) and keep adapting. It is good that you can write ( so well) about things and that's a way of keeping them alive and kicking, at least in the written word. I saw a new book from Alice Taylor in the shops recently. If you haven't heard of her, she's a Cork woman who is now a very well-known author of books about her life in rural Ireland. The most famous one is 'To School through the Fields'. IMHO, you're a better storyteller then she is. And I suppose the only good thing about not being able to garden is, that now you have time to start gathering your stories together and maybe one day get them published. Take care and keep on gardening with words !
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Oh goodness...that's incredible to say I'm 'better' than Alice Taylor...a different style perhaps.
I like 'gardening with words'...a lovely expression! Thank you xx
Frustrating as it may sound but you have the memories. The photo is beautiful. Here in jersey to have all the space the opportunity to have done all that you have done would be just a dream......you lived it felt it achieved it............wonderful. I have a few pots grow strawberries. Parsley.......bits would love rhubarb........but there you go. I actually grew
14 strawberries at a cost of about £10.00 you have no idea how tastŷ these strawberries were..
What a lovely picture i could almost smell those roses,i love my garden too i found it a great stress reliever if i had any problems ,but as we grow older and illness strikes we have no choice but to try and adapt our lives to our situation. Perhaps you could write some little stories about your garden as you seem very good at descriptive story telling, write again soon. xx
You painted a wonderful picture there and I understand how it makes you feel. I used to have a very physical job and taught Karate 6 nights a week when ever I could. Only happy memories now!
When I was just a kid my friend and I used to go into town and see how quick we could get to the top of a block of flats 16 storeys (probably apartments now?) When I told my consultant yesterday that I get out of breath going up stairs he said how many flights? "The ONE at home!"
I don't think there is any such thing as a flat now...lol...I've seen houses which are 'architect' designed...as though they're usually designed by the local newsagent!
It sounds as though you lived an idyllic life,and such a shame it could not continue, but no one can take your memories away,and I am sure you have lots of treasured photos.
You worked hard and achieved so much so nothing was in vain. Thanks for sharing,we can almost smell the flowers,as I live in a rural area I have clear visions of brick built buildings now used as shelters for grazing animals,and the poly tunnels are a normal sight as we drive around the country villages.
It all sounds wonderful, you still have your memories Vashti , and I bet if you closed your eyes you could still see everything , wander through your garden in your mind. I can see it, through your words, it must be so lovely xx
Just walked through your garden Vashti and it is still beautiful. How right you are about the sadness of not being able to attend to things anymore, just sit as an onlooker and remember what once was.
Those flavours from the humblest of vegetable gardens are out of this world and next spring the wife and I are going to experiment with small pots and containers even if it only gives us a couple of meals that we have nurtured with our own hands.
Wow vashti, you have achieved so much in life already, respect.
Given your deep love & appreciation for the beauty of nature it must be so frustrating for you having to accept the restrictions your health now demands.
Selfishly I hope you can keep on writing, everything you write seems to come from your soul and is truly beautiful.
Just try to stop me writing...lol...and thank you xxx
I only wished we would go back to the days we planted Elecampanes and other herbs in the garden those were the days when what ever ailed you there was a plant growing to ease the symptoms grandma would just go out of the back door up to her cartwheel that was half buried in the garden and between each spoke was growing a herb or other medicinal plant.
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Did you know that the Elecampanes were planted outside Chinese monasteries in times long gone so that the student monks could meditate to the sound of the rain falling on the leaves...
And your remembrance of your Granny's remedies is something I'm copying for our project!
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will have to try and rattle my brains for that one Vashti I think I got the place wrong where I was born it was Killinaboy and I just googled it the old cottage is still standing on the Kilfenora - Ballyvaghan Road minus it roof a sad state it is now and across the road some one has built a horrible red brick bungalow yuck
My eyes are in wonder in front of the photo and reading your description. Fortunately, somehow nature doesn't always need us to grow. Still you know you've helped producing lovely flowers. It's a fantastic memory to remember.
so lovely vashti, but its not the end of the world, that rose and many others will constantly flower. i, like yourself love my garden, but find theres only so much i can do nowadays,, but no one can stop us looking and no one can stop us dreaming, and theres always something we can manage. however little. you are very fortunate to have such a writing gift. but i do understand you completely.
lots of kind wishes ,, jimmy xxx
That is so wonderful Vashti,I somehow missed this post previously,gorgeous photo.
Yes,understand completely what you're saying.The garden has always been the love of our lives,Harry being the main worker,sadly not so much these days.At least we can still do the pots etc.but it's not the same. xxx
That is so wonderful Vashti,I somehow missed this post previously,gorgeous photo.
Yes,understand completely what you're saying.The garden has always been the love of our lives,Harry being the main worker,sadly not so much these days.At least we can still do the pots etc.but it's not the same. xxx
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