Something from nothing

Bloo and I are trying to make beautiful gardens from our vast enthusiasm, little knowledge, and the work of our hands.

I'm trying to create a herb garden for a friend who seems to dislike the mud, insects and unpredictable nature of the garden, despite wanting the beauty and usefulness of a herb garden. I've never started from a blank slate before. My previous lovely messy garden spaces have always had something that I valued in them, so I've been adding to the existing pleasures.

This time, I'm working in a space that was once (and is currently still) under decking. My friend's desires for her garden are lavender, some tasty spicy herbs, something beautiful, more lavender, and ease of maintenance. I want to lure her into the delight of watching things grow, seeing the nature that lurks in British suburbia as a positive thing, not a frightening one.

This is a non-scripta blog, because we have no written plans, no formal outlines for our gardens. Currently I just have a list, and the idea of a circular plot. My list is as follows:

• 15 lavender plants,

• thyme (I have never had much success with thyme before)

• rosemary

• pansies

• basil and hot peppers in pots

• sage

• fennel

• chives.

I love to grow things from seed, so this weekend and the next I'll start to put things into trays, to see what little darlings will come up from my carefully hoarded seed packets. I'm going to post on freecycle too, to see if I can get some bricks to outline the bed, and maybe we'll be away. This is definitely learning by doing

Bloo has much more exciting, adventurous plans and I'm eager to see what she comes up with.