A reflection

Last night we watched “Love Your Garden” (ITV) on the television. One thing Alan Titmarsh said caught my ear. He reckons your front garden reflects your personality. With this is in mind I find myself musing this morning on what my front garden says about me. (It is essentially mine. I chose & put in the plants. The Fox is happy for me to do what I want with it.)

The first thing that any onlooker should notice is that the garden is full of herbs – a reflection of my culinary interests. At the time I laid out this garden the back garden had not been done. We had no raised beds until we re-did the front garden, no real place to plant herbs which are so essential in my cooking. Some of the herbs are more medicinal than culinary but they are there to give colour & interest to the garden.

Another noticeable thing is that some of the herbs are quite tall, producing a partial screen and giving us some privacy. These include the rosemary bushes, the bay tree & the fennel. Our front garden is only small so our lounge window is not far from the pavement & only a low wall divides us from where our neighbour in the other half of our semi parks his car. So the privacy is important.

Some herbs I planted just because I like the variation of leaf colour or shape – such as the southernwood & the salad burnett. I love the pink pompoms on the chives. I put in purple sage for some contrast of colour. Some I love for their insect attractant ability – the bees love the oregano when it is in flower.

The other thing I did was make sure there was little bare ground to keep maintenance low. We have a large back garden &, being disabled, I cannot cope with too much work to do. Even with a gardener coming for a couple of hours a week, there always seem to be some weeds to hoick out or some dead-heading to do in the back, without having a lot to do in the front as well.

I suppose the garden does reflect me, my passion for cooking, my practicality, my love of shape & colour, an urge for informality without being a mess, a love of variety & spontaneity, our need for privacy. I just never realised it before.