Fantasy gardens

As a child I played many imagination games. My sister and I stole flowers from the garden at our house and took foil pie tins from the kitchen. Then we would layer the flowers in the pie tins. We always saved the prettiest ones for the top. There was a greenhouse where we would leave our pies to dry. Eventually all the flowers would rot together and we would end up with a crispy cake. I do not think there was any logic behind it. We liked flowers and making things.

I loved huge gardens. I still do, although I am more critical of them now. In one particular instance in which I got it into my head to design a maze garden. The walls were thickened with grape vines and at the centre there was a little pond, if I am correct in remembering. I drew diagrams and sketches of this garden. I picked out the sort of plants I wanted for it. Of course, such things take a huge amount of money and I settled for the little bit of dirt in my mothers garden. I grew radishes and little roses.

We moved and there was nowhere to have a garden. My mother made due with the deck and managed wonderful things with pots but we never grew vegetables, which disappointed me. When I moved out on my own I decided to have a garden. I finally got up the courage to ask the landlord and he gave me permission. So last year I had my first garden. I live in fairy land so almost everything grew without much addition to the soil or my having any idea how to deal with pests or what each plant needed.

I am moving halfway through the summer this year, which causes a bit of trouble. But already I am collecting pots. Two of my roommates have never gardened before, but one plans to build a cold frame and the other is incredibly excited about doing the day to day gardening with me. My boyfriend and I are starting to plan our spring gardens now. The given reason is that we will get terribly busy, but really it is an addiction to mini world building.