When I chat about the work I plan for the garden some friends think I’m raving mad! For the simple reason that I’m renting. The fact that I am lucky enough to rent a dear little lodge that actually includes the smallest garden I’ve had in many years, is beside the point. The usual trend seems to be that if you’re renting you really do little more than “maintain” the garden, and then only if you have to.
Well not me!
For one thing I am likely to be here for a few years yet, until I can buy my own cottage in the Weald of Kent – and that will take some saving up for.
But also it would be a foolish thing to put off something I love doing simply because it might benefit the dastardly landlord in the long run.
Now my landlord is not dastardly, he’s a regular landlord that will get things fixed if I nag hard enough (well, usually – if I don’t just get on and fix it myself already!).
And he is, not surprisingly, quite happy for me to take over whatever parts of the garden I want to – though he was also rather surprised at my request. Doesn’t everyone enjoy a garden of more than bark chippings to keep the weeds at bay?
What plans…
Well I’d love an allotment, but they’re like hen’s teeth around here, but there are a couple of patches of untended, unloved ground that could easily be made into raised beds for a few veggies (if we can keep the rabbits off). And I’ve already planted one long-disused flower bed with perennials, a rose and room for annuals through the year.
And in the back “yard” – it really is an odd garden, but the only private area we have, overshadowed by an ancient yew tree, on the north side of the house – I plan to seriously prettify it – make it like a country cottage and even install a stable door into the kitchen when I’ve saved sufficient buttons. A small pond we’ve already created – built up with bricks from Freecycle and a pond liner I’d not used – no newts, pond skaters or damselflies yet, but I live in hope… And of course this can be taken down when we move, should a family with younger children replace us one day.
Every Space has A Use
The fence into the backyard is perfect for hanging baskets, so every time I see those on special offer, I add another couple to my eclectic mix. Which works well with the other containers I’m amassing since Angie Taylor inspired me to consider the oddest of receptacles in her ‘Birds On the Blog’ post about growing greener.
So far I’m putting to work a red kitchen bin that chose to stop opening sensibly exactly one year after buying it, some tyres from my car when they needed replacing, and even a few likely tin cans – though not quite sure how useful they may prove to be… Anything that can be re-used will be!
Dreams Of The Future
And when I have saved up for that cottage of my very own – well I’ll have thoroughly enjoyed “my” garden here, will take plenty of cuttings and the like, and leave everything for the next tenant to enjoy. One thing I do keep in mind is that everything I do here needs to be sustainable, so that it won’t actually end up being a nuisance in the long run, rather than the pockets of beauty intended.
This is all very well until the landlord’s gardeners come around to maintain the garden as a whole (including a much larger plot next door) – they have no idea and gaily strim everything in sight – you’ll find me this summer prostrating myself in front of my peonies every few weeks… Still, they give me good practice for grumpy-old-womanhood!
Editors Note
I for one would be ecstatic if my tenants decided to look after the garden. We have one set of tenants that bought flower tubs and made an effort tidying the courtyard garden, and asked us politely if the could do various bits and pieces. As a landlord, why would I say no to that? I see this as a major benefit and a cost saving exercise too. After all, if they do it, then I dont have to! Then, we have other tenants who expect us to do everything, even though they have a full set of garden tools and a lawn mower! I spent last Friday doing their garden as they are too lazy to put half a days work in to do it themselves.
