Simply loving my garden
The burst of flavour is intense. My mouth fills with saliva as I bite into the soft purple flesh, crunching the tiny stalk as I chew. It’s addictive and, before I know it, my hands look bruised, coloured by soft fruit as I pluck them and pop them straight into the yawning cavern of my insatiable mouth. It’s summer at last and my body is more than ready for the bounty the garden has to offer.
We only planted this fabulous Mulberry Hicks Fancy two years ago and already it’s taller than the roof and laden with a crop that defies counting. We’ve been gorging on mulberries for weeks and the garden is littered with windfalls. The insects and chickens are very accommodating, working tirelessly to process the fallen fruit for nourishment, leaving the remains to compost. Enrichment in action, wherever I look.
A profusion of plant life cascades in all directions; raised beds, enormous planters and pots are scattered in the garden as though they wandered in and found a place to set themselves down. There’s an unruly lack of order, brimful of life and colour and movement, that’s superbly appealing. The small arch that frames the view to the fishpond is covered in pale new growth, the grapevine gracing us once again with a return from dormancy. It came to us as a 30cm tall cutting from a hundred year old vine, one of the early plantings near the Fremantle Prison, and is quietly thriving. The blueberries growing under the arch appreciate the shade the vine provides as summer progresses, their fruit plumping up and ripening, safe from the fierce afternoon sun. We’re cropping a handful every day now and enjoying every single berry!
My brightly painted garden bench, each slat a primary colour, is reminiscent of a kindy playground and draws attention to the mosaics on almost every wall. A pelican watches over the fruit tress, glass tesserae glinting in the sun, a kookaburra keeps the bay tree company and, just around the corner, a circus elephant keeps an eye on the chickens. A tree frog has just been added and I sometimes think it’s all starting to look a little like a crazy-lady garden – and I love it! There is no part of this garden that doesn’t make me smile spontaneously. Even the weeds, struggling through the paving and in amongst the plants, don’t cause a frown. They give me another reason to be out there, enjoying the day.
