Hello my dear gardening friends,

It is a strange time to be thinking about our gardens – today is the coldest that we have experienced so far this winter, and it is c-o-l-d. Hopefully our plants are tucked up nice and warm. At least they are not experiencing heaving caused by the warm and cold – that comes later!!

You tell me that you love the stories that I find for you – here is another one from a little book called, “A Medieval Garden”. Enjoy!

A Monastery Garden by Walafrid Strabo, The Little Garden (Hortulus), 9th Century.

To the beloved Father Grimaldus, this small treatise is humbly offered by his obedient servant in token of love and admiration.
When you sit beneath the apple tree, where often you are surrounded by the boys from your school, some of them running to show you apples they have gathered so large they can scarcely hold them in one hand, perchance you will peruse it. May God make you abound more and more in goodness and crown you with life everlasting.
No joy is so great in a life of seclusion as that of gardening.
No matter what the soil may be, sandy or heavy clay, on a hill or a slope, it will serve well. The gardener must not be slothful but full of zeal continuously, nor must he despise the hardening of his hands with toil. (those blessed blisters)
When last winter had past and spring had renewed the face of the earth, when the days grew longer and milder, when flowers and herbs were stirred by the west wind, when green leaves clothed the trees, then my little plot was overgrown with nettles. What was I to do?
Deep down the roots were matted and linked and riveted like basket-work or wattled hurdles of the fold. I prepare to attack, armed with the “tooth of Saturn”, tear up the clods and rend them from the clinging network of nettles. Then I surround the space with a border of stout squared logs, piling the soil within to a convenient height, I spread manure on it. I plant my seeds and the kindly dew moistens them. Should drought prevail I must water it, letting the drops fall through my fingers for the impetus of a full stream from the water pot would disturb my seedlings.
Part of my garden is hard and dry under the shadow of a roof, in another part a high brick wall robs it of air and sun. Even here something will at least succeed.

Even in a Monastery Garden things are not all heavenly are they? Hopefully you do not have nettles in your garden- if you do and get stung- look for the "dock" that will be growing nearby – rub the leaves on the sting, which will blister like a burn, the pain recedes quickly and soon it feels/is better. How well I remember getting entangled in nettles on walks with my parents. Wonder what I was doing in a nettle patch??

A friend decided to brighten his garden because it is surrounded by several huge shade trees. He started to string those tiny Christmas lights through the branches. During the summer when he sat outside with friends, it seemed as though they were in fairy land - it was magical. So, he bought more and more lights and strung them around the garden. Then came the winter. Soon it was spring again and he couldn’t wait to turn on his lights. Excitedly he threw the switch and nothing happened; tried again still nothing. On inspection he found that the squirrels he had been feeding all winter must have been bored, for they had chewed every string into tiny bits, about the size of a spaghetti strand. He has recovered somewhat, although it took most of the summer. He is not feeding anything this winter!!!!!! Biting the hand that feeds you isn’t a good thing!

Now to the promised colour explanation. To understand how colour produces different effects and moods, we need to understand a little about colour theory and how colours relate to one another. We can explain this easily by looking at the colour wheel. The colour wheel is made up of primary, secondary and tertiary colours.

Primary colours:
Red, blue and yellow are the three primary colours. They cannot be created by mixing other colours together. All the colours in the spectrum, however, can be produced by mixing the primaries and adding black or white.

Secondary colours:
Green, orange, and violet are the three secondary colours of the colour wheel and are produced by mixing two primaries together. Blue and yellow make green, red and yellow make orange, and red and blue make violet. In the colour wheel each secondary lies opposite the third unmixed primary. Colours that lie opposite each other on the colour wheel, for example, primary yellow and secondary violet, or primary blue and secondary orange, are known as complementary colours and actually enhance one another when they are placed side by side. Actually these combinations can make a stunning visual effect when used in rooms in the home. The colour wheel is not useful just for flowers and gardens, but even for the way to put a wardrobe together.

Tertiary Colours:
Turquoise, indigo, purple, scarlet, gold and lime green are tertiary colours and are made by mixing various combinations of primary and secondary colours that lie adjacent to one another on the colour wheel. Blue and green make turquoise, violet and blue make indigo, red and yellow make gold, green and yellow make lime green. The warmer colours are always on the right side of the colour wheel and the cooler hues are on the left. By adding white, you will create a lighter hue, or black produces a darker hue.

The Properties of Colour:
Understanding the particular characteristics of any colour ensures that the most appropriate flowers can be used in a flower arrangement to harmonize the piece, creating the right style and mood.
Whether saturated or pale, intense or tinted certain colours can be used effectively to create either an elegant or rustic effect or a vibrant or demure look. Again the colour wheel can help to create the "look and feel" that you want in your home.
All of these “rules” apply in your flower beds, furniture as well as the clothes that you wear – I suggest that you go to somewhere like Wal-Mart or Ashburnham House and purchase a colour wheel – you will use it over and over again.

I know that you are all getting bored – especially as it has been so icy and we are all housebound. How about making yourself a wooden window flower box, to be ready for planting in the spring? It is quite easy.

For a natural finish, add wainscoting to a new box or revive an old, weather worn one with this handsome outside coating.
You can make this box in any size you wish, cut all four sides and four end caps. Small deck boxes need 4”- 6” lengths, each 3” wide. For larger boxes, you will need 4”- 8” lengths, each 3” wide.
Measure the length of all sides of the finished box. For the five outside corners, mark wrong side of wainscoting and cut an outside 45 degree angle. Cut two lengths per side.
For the inside corners, mark right side of wainscoting and cut inside angle. Start at the bottom and position each side of the box. Nail in place in recessed groove. Position the next wainscoting, fitting tongue into grooves of bottom row already on the box. Nail in place, again hiding nails in the recessed groove.
Simple rectangular planters join together at right angles for an L shaped unit that becomes a corner treatment. Make the L shape large or small depending on your space.

Buying Boards and Molding:
A 1”x 8” board is trimmed to ¾” x 7 1/2” so that the boxes are actually 7 1/2” tall. The side panels butt against the edges of the bottom board.
The small deck boxes need three long pieces (each 7 1/2” x 20 1/2”), three short pieces (each 7 1/2’ x 11 1/2”) and four end caps (each 7 1/2” x 9”). Large deck boxes need three pieces (7 1/2” x 27 1/2”), three short pieces (7 1/2” x 18 1/2”) and four end caps (7 1/2” x 9”).
If you cut the boards yourself for a small L–shaped deck box, you will need two 6” long, 1”x 8” pine boards. A large L-shaped box needs two 8” long, 1” x 8” boards.
Measure and cut molding after the box is assembled. For a small L-shaped box buy two 6” lengths, each 1” – 2” wide. A large L-shaped box takes two 8” lengths.

1) Gather pieces for the short box. Use a right angled ruler to evenly space three parallel lines along length. Drill holes through the board where the lines intersect for drainage.
2) Use a glue gun to apply glue to one long side edge of bottom. Attach side board at right angles, edges should be flush. Repeat with the opposite side board. Turn on side and nail at ends and centre. Glue and nail short ends.
3) Gather pieces for the long box and assemble as in steps 1 and 2. Check joins, sand surfaces and wipe clean. Join the two boxes to form a right angle. Glue them using short finishing nails and attach the boxes securely.
4) Measure and blunt cut the molding so that one piece overlaps the other at the corners. Apply wood glue to trim and dot at centre and ends with hot glue. Immediately position along the bottom edges of boxes and let dry.
5) Paint the inside and outside of the boxes with two or more coats of paint, drying thoroughly between coats. Cover the box completely, though the inside needs only enough paint to seal the surface. The inside can be left unpainted and sealed with polyurethane.

Clear pine (wood without knots) is usually more expensive than knotted pine, but will hold up better to the deteriorating effects of moist soil and severe weather.
If you can enlist the help of a friend to hold the boards whilst you hammer, you will not need the hot glue gun. Hot glue only adheres to the wood temporarily, so you must use nails to hold “forever”. It is much more fun when you have a companion – you can make two sets - I used to help Jack all the time and it is surprising how much I learned by “holding the end”!!

Nature has long been our sanctuary and intimate healer since ancient Egyptians prescribed walks in the garden for the sick. In 1985, researchers asked 300 people to visualise “an environment that would be healing” for someone feeling helpless, wounded or in pain." Every single person described an environment with nature.

Confirmed now by science as well as anecdote, this healing power that is in all our gardens, underlines the concept of horticultural therapy. Defined in North America in the 1970’s as a therapeutic tool, therapeutic therapy uses nature and gardening activities to improve body, mind and spirit. Settings range from hospitals and nursing homes to hospices and prisons. Interestingly this therapy is growing in popularity for those with illness’s such as Aids, Alzheimer's and Cancer – diseases for which medicine does not have a “magic bullet”. There may be no cure but there is indeed room for healing.

Eminently adaptable, horticultural therapy can range from a few pots on a window sill to acres of gardens and can involve anything from starting seeds and pressing flowers to water – gardening and growing prize winning tomatoes. The fact is that far more grows in the garden than plants: self esteem, optimism, camaraderie, creativity, satisfaction, a sense of purpose, as well as physical and mental abilities. Especially if you have fairies living in your garden!!!

“I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech-tree, or a yellow birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines." -Henry David Thoreau, 1817 – 1862

So get out and walk around your garden despite the deep snow – say hello to your plants, tell them that you will be here waiting for them when the spring arrives. Not only will it cheer your plants, but it will lift your spirits too.

I have noticed deer and rabbit tracks quite close to the house, something that I haven’t seen for a long time. The wild dogs had cleaned out all the rabbits around here and I think that the deer are looking for food.


Build tomorrow, live today and cherish yesterday
Children embrace the ordinary with enchantment,
Reminding us, in stillness and simplicity,
What is worth having and what we were intended to be.

Good gardening to us all – keep your eye on your houseplants, with this cold weather we have turned up the heat, an open invitation to white fly, scale and all those other nasties.

Hats, gloves, warm undies, (long johns of course) sunscreen and warm boots. Go outside and look for the comet – I haven’t seen anything but clouds at night, but I keep looking.

Lovingly, Beryl