
Every now and then you get an urge to commune with nature and to get your hands dirty, or so I’ve been told. I have to confess that I am quite happy to leave the garden to get on and grow, within reason, without any micro-management from me. I don’t mind giving it the odd haircut, just to keep the lawn looking presentable and if it gets a bit out of hand and starts to encroach upon areas that I consider reserved for my recreation, I am happy to lop off an occasional tree branch or brandish secateurs threateningly at a rose bush. Should my righteous indignation be aroused, I have been known to reduce the offending shrub to an insignificant bunch of twigs. It made me feel a lot better! I must add, that although there followed several months of trepidation, we did have a good show of roses that year.
Autumn, of course, is the right time to get stuck in and do the larger reconstruction jobs around the garden. You know, move plants around, dig stuff up and put it on the compost heap – you can read about the right time and the right way to do any amount of heavy lifting in your gardener’s world, on any number of web sites. Don’t forget that the healthy exercise is doing all sorts of good and valuable things for you – while it wears out your body and causes any number of aches pains and other signs of a virtuous life.
Perhaps, here I ought to add “don’t work harder – work smarter”