Other peoples' gardens....

...and mine...

A 71-year old Swansea pensioner built this in his garden.
Magnificent 

All I can say is...don't under-estimate the pensioners.   They are a mighty clever bunch of people!  Look at the Flower-Tower built by a retired steel worker in his garden.   He says he will make the next one bigger, this is 30 feet high (about 10 metres).

That's not all.   This weekend I returned to Dorset for a special birthday celebration.   In the cul-de-sac where I lived for so many years one of my former neighbours had entered their garden in the Open Gardens week which is held for different Charities.  Well, let's call my friends Mr and Mrs H because I don't want to invade their privacy although I did ask for their permission to put in a bit about their garden.  They are two lovely pensioners (like me but a touch older) who look after their lively grandsons during the working days of the week.   Their time is busy as the children are not a lot older than Leah and Jonah...and this is a tiny bit of what they have in their back garden...not to mention a pretty much self sufficient vegetable patch and orchard...AND a tiny, but very real, JUNGLE

The paving is reclaimed slabs, the containers, many of them are old dustbins.
This is the back patio.

It deserves an award.
Most of these are grown from their own seed, cuttings, bulbs
and the postage-only posti-plugs from T & M

There are hidden corners, water trickling into a living pond,
paths through the jungle, quiet seats, nooks, crannies all full  of
food, interest and colour

Mr and Mrs H are just regular people who have worked hard all their lives.   They have always kept a connection with the ground.   Mr H is a skilled builder so many of the structures are made from reclaimed and throw -aways stuff from others is put to good and original use in the garden.   He knows a lot about splitting plants, taking seeds...he planted out 600 tiny marigolds, seed gathered from 2013 plants in their garden and saved.   He knows how to organically protect against pests.   Mrs H is the fuchsia lady and hers make mine look like half-starved orphans...

Their knowledge comes from years of dirt-under-the-fingernails live-living interaction with the good old ground - and need to supply the table and vases!   WOW...DOUBLE-WOW..

I am both inspired and humbled.  I salute you Mr and Mrs H.

In fact I hardly want to show you my garden pictures this week.   I have to keep reminding myself that Mr and Mrs H have had years to establish their paradise while mine is merely in its 3rd year and doing well...doing well enough.  One thing Mr and Mrs H taught me a lot in half an hour chatting to them in their garden...and I shall use the new knowledge.   Marigolds, little French Marigolds seem to keep flying pests (green fly, white fly) at bay.   I shall exult the humble marigold and grow a couple in the greenhouse to keep the flying pests out of there too...

First bloom on Yew Tree House rose cutting taken last summer.

Lacy hydrangea from a cutting taken from Janet and Mum's garden

I don't know its name,
it is a Fuchsia and came as a tiny plug plant
What a lovely surprise when it bloomed

One of the baskets I made up
I thought it was good till I saw Mrs H's!

A dwarf Agapantha of stunning blue,
Reminds me of South Africa,
The bulb was a gift - this is its first season.

There are cucumbers forming on the vines in my garden, beans coming, potatoes, butternut, sweetcorn, tomatoes as well as black and red currants, rhubarb, there might even be a tiny bunch of grapes on one vine this year...

But oh...how far, far short this garden falls of Mr and Mrs H's garden....give me time Lord, and give me strength too please...together we'll get there Garden and I.