I love this time of year. The garden is bursting with greenery, plants are setting seed and everywhere is the promise of an abundant harvest. Even my train journey into work is a delight as I can peer out of the window and see how many things I can identify. I see damsons, elderberries, apples galore... and herbs mullein, horsetail and many others. I've already been out into the overgrown wasteland near my home and picked blackberries and elderberries to make into cordial and jelly. I've even found wild hops in this urban paradise!
I seem to have finally got my spark back. After months of languishing in the doldrums of depression I feel like I might actually be ready to face the world again. I have a project. It has all come about as the result of a disaster, and I'm choosing to see it as an opportunity for growth. My rented garden was recently massacred by the landlord's son - everything was cut down to the ground. Both my housemate and I were horrified. And then something strange happened. I decided to see it as an opportunity to remodel the garden; to really get stuck in and build something worthwhile. And as soon as I did, it was as if a switch went on inside. A lightbulb lit up.
So this bank holiday weekend I have set about gathering bricks to build a herb spiral and old carpet to lay down as mulch, and I have spent a joyous three days pottering about in the garden tidying up old plants, repotting things and giving them some love. It's been food for the soul, it really has.
I've also discovered an inner city London permaculture group and this fabulous website called Shoot where you can sign up to receive tailor-made emails about your garden. You tell them what you are growing and what type of advice you need, and they send you regular updates telling you what you need to be doing at that time of year for each plant you have registered. Magic!
I feel like I have found where I need to be. Wherever I am, I am ready to put down roots, become established, and to build a life for myself. I need to dig in the earth and grow things. I am ready to live.
