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Bringing the Gardener down to Size

© Gay Klok

Cutting the gardener down to size

"Don't you mean cutting the garden down to size?", you may ask.

Certainly, there will be a lot of pruning taking place in both the country and the town garden. We will wait until Autumn to cut the houses and paths out of the gardens. We have had so much rain in the last months, following five to seven years of draught, that the trees and shrubs decided they may have a go at becoming triffids.

When I titled this article "Cutting the Gardener down to Size" I meant exactly that. In other words, I am talking about bringing me back to earth to realise that I am not the only element in charge of the garden. The weather, the plants and nature herself are all so much more important than this over-proud gardener. I am now learning to bow my head and foster humility within myself.

Maggie and Jack the Bear came to visit us, all the way from Canada. Maggie is a very loyal and worthwhile member of Suite101.com. Over the last three years, Maggie and I have got to know and like one another through the Internet and our gardening interests. There was no horror or surprise when we all met in real life, it was as if we had formed an ordinary friendship, pre Internet times. So, what was it that brought me down a peg or two?

Firstly, the constant rainfall over the last six successive weekends kept me from the garden. A few years ago, this hitch would not have kept me housebound. I would have donned a japara [the waterproof parkas that were initially made in New Zealand] and gardened quite happily. After all, the weeds are so easy to tug out when a gentle rain is falling. Lately, I would have to use the term torrents of rain to describe what nature has thrown at us. Also, unfortunately, age is creeping up on me and I feel [and resent] the creaking joints so much more now. It was impossible to keep the weeds from growing before the exciting arrival of our guests, the best I could do, in the infrequent sunny periods, was to cut off their heads to stop them seeding. The weed heads, not Maggie's and Jack's!

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