feeling blue - in a flowering way

It was always a dream of mine to have a garden. Maybe it's because I grew up without one, although my dad would make sure there were always plenty of colourfully blooming planting pots on our small balcony. We also rented an allotment not so far away when I was a child, and while I remember that gardening as such wasn't too attractive, I enjoyed running about with the boys who were the sons of the Turkish family we shared the big allotment with.

Then I got inspired by my friend Brigit's garden, and when a Glasgow friend introduced me to allotment gardening, I was all for it. If it hadn't been for the effort of getting there after work or at weekends. The constant battle with weeds and juggling too many things meant I never made the most of it. Instinctively I knew that the only garden I would look after properly would be one just outside my door. Of course it didn't help that Cubling initially thought nothing of being stood in her pram while I tried to do some digging. She didn't like not being carried full stop, never mind being sat in a pram without any movement at all.

So this is the second summer in our new home, our small but beautiful terraced suburban house. Still juggling too many things and not spending as much time gardening as I wish, but at least the big advantage is that it's right there. And it's a garden that won't punish me for inactivity. It was in good state when we moved in, and bit by bit it's becoming mine. Some plants bought last year, two raised beds (one planted), occasional trips to the gardening centre and surprise plant sales later, I'm starting to be ever so slightly proud of it.

And I realise that for some strange reason, I'm really into blue/purple blossoms. There's blue and purple all over, it all happened without plan or awareness, until somehow my garden is blue, and I'm loving it.