| Willow Garden is a series exclusive to the Earthly Comforts blog only. |
| Earthen Tales Directory |
| Main Image – Willow Garden 28th April 2023 |
| The Willow Transition |
| Willow Garden 28th April following the breakdown of the worm farms |
| It is safe to say, or in this case, write, that the Willow Garden series will be minimal from now on. Suze and l decided to keep a fundamental garden format here a few months ago, especially given it is a rental. We are desperate to get into the garden here at the house and perform some essential garden maintenance. For me, firstly, it is some generalised tidying; for Suze, it is a case of trimming and cutting back to make the garden more presentable. The allotment keeps us very busy when Suze is not working, or we are not working together with the garden business, or l am working the compost doctoring side or l am not engaged in other activities like volunteering at Gazen Salts which has also become busier as l am now in charge of the marketing of the brand as well as l finally volunteered to sell the surplus requirements found during the cleanups in the Nissan Hut. No one else bothered to offer to attempt to sell our surplus materials, so l did, and l am busy with that now as well. So far, to date, just selling the smaller items, l have raised £80, and tonight l have another £60 of sales coming in. It’s not a lot of money in the more extensive range of finances, but every penny counts. The items left in the first stage have a combined value of around £240. The second stage will be much higher as it is more significant equipment. So with everything going on and as we approach the actual growing season for the allotment, time is short. Therefore the home garden cannot take precedence over more pressing matters. Having said this, we still want the garden here to be tidy and somewhat attractive. Although we don’t spend much time here, we still use it. From when l moved in here in June 2020, it had been home to several unusual farming techniques, from large-scale composting units to worm farms. Now that they have been relocated down to Plot 17, Willow can take a back seat, and hopefully, this coming summer [providing the current rains STOP dropping], we can get some lovely flowers into the pots here. But we have also removed many ornamental pots we initially used here; some have made their way down to the allotment. Keeping plants in pots isn’t an ideal growth strategy as they require more independent watering, and that eats at times, which, if you are always short of that resource, you don’t need additional containers. The critical importance of erecting the polytunnel also plays a significant role in the Willow transition as this will mean that instead of using the back part of our kitchen area as a temporary greenhouse, we can move the seed sowing and seedling grow-on operation into the tunnel and free up even more space at home which in turn will lessen the workload. A few months ago, Suze and l stripped the house of many unused and unwanted items and sold them on or donated them out to free up space and make some finance for the polytunnel purchase, so streamlining the Willow garden is also part of that strategy to principally have less at home and become more used to minimalised living spaces. The latter is crucial to move into a smaller living environment should we wish. Now we don’t need much additional space, and we don’t need a garden as large as the one we have here, so a smaller lawned area might be more appealing with a garden shed to keep the gardening tools in for the business. The Willow Garden isn’t a mess at present, it’s way tidier than some gardens l have seen, but it still appears busy, and we want to calm that down. There are additional plans for the garden, but primarily for domestic and practical needs. It would be nice to have a patio area, table, and chairs to sit out and enjoy the summer months rather than sit in the house or relax when not ageing in the allotment. Also, we want to move the drying area for washing further down the garden with more extended sun windows. The site just outside the back door doesn’t experience more sunlight and drying warmth. You can see by the few photos taken towards the end of April and compared to a photo taken in early December [when we were putting the new worms into action] that Willow is already different in comparison to the photo taken this morning during the rain that she is looking much more straightforward and more streamlined. In the next few weeks, and mainly come June, the last remnants from the garden will have all transferred down to the plot, and we can start to have a more typical backyard courtyard garden, perhaps. |
| Willow Garden 07th December 2022 |
| Willow Garden 12th May Slowly but surely we are taking out everything from the garden that no longer needs to be here, come next month in June. Willow can become just another courtyard garden in Sandwich. |
| Thanks for Reading – See you next Season |
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Earthly Comforts 
Looking neat and tidy now. You guys are super heroes
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Thanks Sadje, it’s about 3% short of being right, we will be pleased when it is all done, it’ll be one area less to concern ourselves with 🙂
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You’re most welcome.
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Decluttering is so satisfying 😀
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Hey Paula, yes very much so 🙂
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It’s an amazing garden. The garden photos you posted are all inspiring and worth viewing. They’re all lovely photos. Just keep going and enjoy. Have a great weekend.
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Many thanks and always backatcha 🙂
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You’re welcome. You can visit my blog too if you have extra time. I hope you will like and follow it.
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Looking good, Rory!
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