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I have just done a heavy stint in the garden and I'm now basking in my own approval. For the gardeners amongst you and by way of orientation, we have a large side plot, and at the back a patio area stuffed with pots, a rockery and terraced section, and then a 'wild' bit for the hammock and the garden shed. We are south facing at the foot of a steep hill which is a sun trap and frost pocket depending on season. Whilst going about my virtue, the therapy of the process kicked in, offering the age-old gardening metaphors insights. So in the fashion that befits a 'Thought for the Day' presenter, here are some of the musings this May weekend produced. I'll leave it to you to make connections to learning, growth and discovery, if indeed there are connections to be made. And you may find these universals handy in your own work as a developer.

PRUNING
I was severely cutting back tubs that we have - with Percy Thrower's phrase 'drastic pruning' coming to mind. (That date's me). The purpose behind it all is to either cut back old growth to let new growth come through, or to cut back on new growth to let it thicken and proliferate. To be successful it does help to know what approach each plant needs. Some you should prune after flowering, some in early spring, some old wood, some new shoots, etc. I have a somewhat limited approach - it gets done on the day I have the time, which no doubt explains my problem as a gardener. Keeping my yellow fingers crossed doesn't guarantee a successful intervention.

To have commitment to the process, I need to be prepared to tolerate the ensuing 'bald' period, which is particularly uneasy on the eye. As a dominant visual, I can be seduced with the preference of the status quo, keeping it looking good in the short term. However, as last year's experience taught me with these particular tubs, this strategy only leaves the plants to become increasingly straggly and weak, and particularly unattractive.

PLANTING
Going to garden centre and spending yet more money on plants, is one of my more favourite occupations. I argue that I am not spending money on me - it's for us, and even for the community who can appreciate it as they pass.

When I think of how much money has been buried in my garden over the years and how much never saw a second summer, I blush. I had planted them in the wrong place - it was too dry, shady, damp, sunny, acid, alkaline. I had planted them badly - hadn't taken the time to prepare the soil, give enough space or sufficiently water and fertilise them. The slugs got them early. I hadn't taken a note of where I had planted them and dug them up in the following annual pre-Spring dig. Some never got planted at all!! They sat in their plastic pots and induced guilt all summer. And some of them did fine, but only have an apparent life span of several years, and then need replaced.

When asked by a local reporter who was doing a feature on the garden "Which is your favourite plant" I quickly replied, "Those that grow." She was not impressed, so I plumped for the red broom, which died the next year. The side plot had been glorious in the early years. Then we had an extension built and the hillside excavated, and all the builders' materials and rubble were dumped on this only available space. I was a bit upset, but one of the guys assured me that things would grow back. Extraordinarily he was right! However, a lot of what did grow there now no longer does. Possibly the balance of the soil has changed. It has become a very different plot and much more fickle/demanding/unresponsive compared with before. For a couple of years I left it to its own devices, which were not a lot. Now I have renewed my commitment to seeing it becoming magnificent again. Hence the garden centre trip(s). This time I have fertilised, watered, given space and care. I'll let you know how we all fare.

CLEARING OUT THE SHED.
Flushed with the fruits of my labours, I got stuck into clearing out the shed, which was full of things, cobweb encrusted, and untouched over the years. Amongst the usual rubbish that gets dumped in sheds, there were fertilisers and bug killers past their sell by dates and possibly no longer legal (apologies to organic purists), an inflatable raft borrowed from a neighbour and not returned, car accessories belonging to bygone era, and a mangled hammock whose load bearing capacity is now in jeopardy. There was stuff there which was so well buried, duplicates had now been bought. And the bicycles were there against the back wall, imprisoned, with no hope of an airing.

And as I was filling all these sacks for the tip, I learnt - well reminded myself - that a regular inventory on what we've stored would be useful. Surely this would be preferable to the waste. It would certainly mean the shed would cease to be a no-go area.

It may even mean the liberation of the bicycles and we can all head for the open road - well canal towpath at least. (Oh No!! Derek)

Fran
5 May 2004