Garden People

The other day I planted some cucumber seeds. These seeds came from my elderly neighbour who passed away a couple of years ago. So, I call the cucumbers Orbrad's cucumbers, after him. I'm not sure of the exact variety, but they are good sized green cucumbers which are quite tasty.

What I like about them most is their association with a kind old gentleman who was a fellow gardener. He produced the most magnificent tomatoes each year and tenderly kept his garden in pristine condition. A couple of times I came out the back door to find him hastily zipping up his trousers after fertilising his lemon tree (chuckle!). His fig tree is one of the very best I've seen in Canberra. Although he could hardly speak English, we'd have great conversations about our gardens over the fence. So, every time I plant these cucumbers, I remember him.

Last season, I was lucky enough to find yellow egg tomatoes growing in my garden. They reminded me of my Pop, who used to grow them when I was a child. One of my fond childhood memories was visiting my grandfather and walking down the back to pick and eat these yellow tomatoes.

Some of the tools I use in the garden once belonged to my father and also to his father. The same goes for some of my gardening and self-sufficiency books. And when there's something a bit tricky to do and I'm having trouble with it, I ask Dad for help and things go smoother.

Then there's the plants given to me by various friends over the years - the tiny loquat seedling, no more than a twig with two leaves, rescued from the Crone's garden before she left for warmer climes is thriving and ready to be planted in the open ground. Her daughter's birthday rose is in the front garden and still going well - see pic.

And there's other treasures, like the Goji cutting another friend gave me last year, which came from her uncle's garden. Or the bees, which remind me of some of my blogging friends.

The point of all this is that my garden is more to me than a producer of food and flowers. It's also a place of lovely memories and lots of garden friends. I hope yours is too.

love and light
naturewitch