I have been a little sluggish with my return to the garden and the computer as Hubby the Un-Gardener and I have been struck down with that major inconvenience that leaves you stuck indoors for 7 days!  We’re not too bad but feeling rubbish, nonetheless.   I’ve been back almost a week, but thanks to a combo of terrible weather and a severe lack of energy, I have only been out to look at the garden once!

My handy helper is coming over on Friday so we will tackle whatever has happened to the garden in the last four weeks then.  It is what it is, and gardens are resilient.  It may surprise us, however the 100km/h winds that whipped through here last night have me a little concerned.   As we are right on the coast the wind is still whipping about the place and experience has taught me that it is best to wait until it stops before making repairs or you just do more damage.  

I have slowly plodded my way through all of your blog posts from the last four weeks.  I didn’t make any comments but hit the love emoji and the occasional sad or surprised one.    Your gardens and your tales to tell have been such a lovely constant to see all the gardens growing so verdantly.  Reading them all in one go was a bit like watching a film in fast forward, and that long awaited growth happened so quickly!   It takes just as much time to read the comments as it does the blog posts.  I love how you all chat together there, that it what makes it such a special community. 

There have certainly been some ups and downs, with Sue’s bee sting – I’m so sorry about your ring, Helen losing her tunnel roof  - yay for insurance, and Stacey with her wisdom teeth - ooh ouch! And all of the rain – James your stream is impressive – you should landscape around it – maybe a dry river bed that spends some of its time being wet, but Sue and Rachael your lakes are less than desirable – I hope they drain quickly and the rain stops being so intense!     The weather has certainly made this season challenging.  

But we also celebrate birthdays for James and Rachael and anyone else who kept it to themselves!  And Jane’s carrot was a joy to see and Tannz has a gift with cabbages.  And our southern gardeners Ev and Stacey, it is great to see you have caught up with the planting and are no longer watching and waiting for it to warm up enough!  And as I haven’t caught up with myself just yet, Neil your fabulous Christmas tree is pulling me into the new season!  And Tracey’s generosity reminds us to see what we can do with our extra bounty this festive season, especially with prices so high.   You are all so amazing and I have missed you in my daily life.

The trip was fabulous.  I ended up seeing 34 all very different gardens from one end of the country to the other.  It is probably just as well I’ve been laid low, there are so many ideas, it gives me a moment to process them all before jumping in and creating beautiful things.   I have posted an image from each garden on my FB page over the last few weeks and will probably talk more about it in my actual blog at some point. 

In spite of the dreaded lurgy, and the incessant rain and wind, it is good to be home again, and I look forward to slotting into some kind of normal again very soon.

Sarah the Gardener  : o) 

Photo:  not my garden