Back Garden Archaeology

I didn't have enough potting mix to fill the pots - but hopefully its enough to keep them going for the winter. — I didn’t have enough potting mix to fill the pots – but hopefully it’s enough to keep them going for the winter.

I was gardening yesterday. Yep. Gardening. Despite the rain and the freezing temperatures. Well – I did the gardening in a short minute when blue skies appeared above our house, but I was well aware that it wasn’t actually gardening weather.

I had to plant two bushes I’d been given for Christmas into big pots. Hopefully, they’ll – if not flourish – at least survive there until the spring. When I’ll decide where in the garden they should be planted.

You see, my thumbs are more brown than green. And its not my fault – honestly!

I grew up in a small Australian bush town, that did not have reticulated water. We couldn’t just turn on a tap – or a garden hose – knowing there was water there just for the asking. We relied on rain water captured off the roof into a big concrete tank. And in that part of Queensland, it doesn’t rain too often. Thus – our house didn’t have a garden. There were a couple of orange trees, to which we carted the grey water out of the washing machine. But no lawn or flower beds.

Now that I live somewhere where there can be too much water (roads near us are closed at the moment due to flooding) you’d think it would be an easy matter to start a garden. But my thumbs, it appears, remain firmly brown.

There are some daffodils in the garden – they were left from the previous owner and just grow without any help or interference from me.

I bought some tulip bulbs on a trip to the Netherlands – they survive – if the squirrels don’t get to them before they sprout.

They seem to do well without me - even in the snow. So I tend to leave them alone. — They seem to do well without me – even in the snow. So I tend to leave them alone.

I did once prepare a flower bed in the back garden, which now sports a fabulous crop of weeds and is used by all the neighbourhood cats as a litter tray. However, – when digging up the garden we discovered something – an old well. It’s been covered to make it safe – but the round brick sides left no doubt as to what it is.

I wonder when the well was dug. Who drank from it. And who covered it. There is a story there, I'm sure. Perhaps more than one. — I wonder when the well was dug. Who drank from it. And who covered it. There is a story there, I’m sure. Perhaps more than one.

Of course, I immediately started imagining the who why and what of that well – and within minutes was inside writing a story. I haven’t done anything with the story yet. I will some day. When I finish the book I’m writing now. And the next one that is already forming in my head…

In the meantime – cross your fingers that my brown thumbs are turning just a faint shade of green – and that those pretty bushes thrive.