The book what I wrote….

On August 7, 2014December 14, 2014 By janeIn Books, Most Popular Posts, New tricks, Scotland, Writing12 Comments

Ok folks…. Prepare yourselves…. Because today’s the day.

I’ve finally gone and done it. After years of fannying about, self doubting, prevaricating and generally believing that nobody would be interested in reading a book written by me, I’ve taken the plunge.

And this is it.

My book. The one I started writing nearly ten years ago, the one I researched and wrote, found an agent for, didn’t find a publisher for, gave up on, picked up again, thought ‘you know what I really like this book,’ self-edited, self-edited some more, found a really cool self-publishing service provided by Amazon, turned it into something that looks like a real book.

And now all you have to do is click on this link for Amazon.co.uk and order your copy. If you’re in the US you can click on the Amazon.com link, and you will be able to get it right now. And by August 21st you will be able to read The Greenyards Legacy on Kindle.

So there you have it. I really hope you read it. And if you do, I really hope you like it. And if you do, I really hope you tell all your friends and write a glowing review.

Big day, huh!

Fairweather Friend….

On July 23, 2014 By janeIn My Garden4 Comments

So you know that friend, the really good one, the one you see all the time, do stuff with, text, email, meet for coffee….

…. until the day they disappear off the face of the earth.

Suddenly you don’t hear from them, they don’t return your calls, reply to your texts, turn up when they say they will. You begin to worry. Have they emigrated? Found religion? Been kidnapped?

But then you find out that it’s none of these. Because you know what’s happened? They’ve fallen in love. And suddenly they don’t need you anymore.

So, now it’s me. I’m the guilty ‘what happened to you?’, ‘haven’t seen you around much’ party. For weeks, months, years even, (ok, just one year, but it’s felt like more to me) you’ve had posts appearing on a regular basis. Weekly updates on the things that catch my eye, tickle my fancy, get me thinking. But for the last couple of months there’s been nothing. Apart from the occasional message promising the earth…. I’ll be there for you…. I’ve been away but now I’m back…. Better than ever…. etc, etc, etc.

So what’s been going on?

Deep breath…. finally…. it’s time to come clean. I am in love…. With…. Very loud drumroll….

My greenhouse.

The love of my life.... — The love of my life….

I KNOW!

HOW SAD IS THAT!

It could have gone either way. If I’m honest I was really worried. That it was going to be another thing I didn’t have time for, a commitment too far, a stick to beat myself with, an impulse purchase to regret when I remembered that it was out there in my garden abandoned and unloved.

But it’s neither abandoned or unloved. In fact it’s my favourite thing in the whole world. I’m never happier than when I’m watering my tomatoes and cultivating my cucumbers. I spend every moment I can in it. I want to move into it.

There….

I’ve finally owned up. And I feel so much better.

Now you can look forward to lots of posts about vegetables….

Or maybe not.

And I’m aware that there is a ‘Whatever Happened to Garden Design?’ issue to address. And a ‘Where’s this book you’ve been threatening to release onto an unsuspecting world?” question to answer.

I just hope you’re willing to stick with me.

Friends in love don’t have to disappear. They just have to make more of an effort.

Watch this space….

On June 11, 2014December 14, 2014 By janeIn New tricks, WritingLeave a comment

Hello you poor abandoned blog you….

And I’m hoping that those of you out there, who might have been aware that something was missing in their lives but couldn’t put a finger on what it was, will be sighing with relief knowing that all’s well with the world again.

Because I’m back…. And I’m better than ever. At least I hope I am.

I’ve been taking a breather. From blogging, from garden designing, from rushing around like a crazy person thinking I should be doing loads of important stuff, from trying to be what I have convinced myself everyone else expects me to be. I’ve given myself some time.

And I’ve concentrated on two things. My garden…. That’s my garden. Not other people’s…. Mine. And my book…. That’s my book. The one I’ve been writing for so many years I’ve forgotten when I started it. I had convinced myself it wasn’t good enough. And at the first hint of rejection I abandoned it and left it to fend for itself. But now I’ve gone back to it. I’ve realised it doesn’t have to be perfect. Because nothing ever is. And if I wait for things to be perfect I will end up with nothing.

So this is another of my ‘watch this space’ posts. Except for this time the space is going to be filled. Because the manuscript is as good as I can make it. And within a couple of weeks it will be available in print or as an ebook. So you can read it if you want to. I’ll let you know the details. And I really hope you like it. But if you don’t….. You know what. It’s not the end of the world.

So it’s back to blogging. Cos I’ve missed it too.

Aliens….

On April 21, 2014 By janeIn Extras, Majorca, PlantsLeave a comment

I don’t want to worry you….

But you know that scene in the first Alien film – the gut busting, stomach wrenching, ohmygodwhatthehelljusthappenedtoJohn Hurt moment – that had me scraping myself off the ceiling of the cinema the first time I saw it. Do you remember the way poor John had no idea that anything was wrong until his belly exploded….?

Well I’m sitting on my sofa nursing a vastly expanded waistline. And I’ve got a worrying feeling that I too may be about to explode. And while it might be all the chocolate I’ve eaten this weekend, I’m a little bit scared that there might be another more sinister explanation….

Because I was out in Puerto Pollenca for a few days last week. And there is something weird going on out there at the moment.

First off there’s the alien on our terrace….

I knew something was up last year. The Cycad, which has dutifully put on new growth each year, was behaving very strangely.

It appeared to be growing a head.

I told myself that it would all be fine by the time I came back after the winter. All that wierdness would have settled down and we would be the proud owners of a perky Cycad with a lovely new set of leaves.

…. But I was wrong.

What’s that all about……? I lay awake in the night and wondered about aliens invading my inner space.

Because it wasn’t just the Cycad….

There was also the spooky beeping….

We heard it the first night as we were going to bed. Sounded like the battery on someone’s fire alarm had gone flat. So piercing beep every few seconds for half an hour or so. And I’m beginning to wonder if earplugs might be the answer, because the owner of the house with the dodgy fire alarm is clearly not there. And we could be in for a long night.

But then the beeping stopped.

Ok – owner must be back, batteries replaced – we can all relax. I turn out the light and prepare for a good night’s sleep. And the beeping starts again. And then a while later it stops. And then starts again. And continues onning and offing throughout the night.

The next morning I heard it joining in with the dawn chorus. What was going on?

On our walk home from dinner in the port the following night, as we walked beside the water’s edge along Pine Walk, we heard the beeping again. And that was when we discovered that it was coming from somewhere above our heads, in a tall pine behind the villa on the corner as we turned away from the bay towards our house.

So we went straight home and we looked up ‘weird beeping in Puerto Pollenca’ on the internet. And you know what….

…. it’s a Scops Owl. Only eight inches high. It’s sitting up there in that tree. And it’s beeping. If you want to know what it sounds like click here

At first we thought it was calling to a mate. Because in the distance we could hear a faint reply. But then it hit us. It wasn’t another Scops Owl…. It was an echo….

So ok – the beeping is a lonely owl story. And the waist expansion is probably just down to overindulgence. But I’m keeping an eye on that Cycad….

The downside….

On April 7, 2014 By janeIn My Garden, Plants2 Comments

Ok….

Bit of a bummer….

I’ve discovered an unexpected downside to doing a garden design course. Which is that my critical eye has got more critical…. Now when I look at my own garden I’m seeing what’s wrong with it, rather than what’s right. And I’ve got a worrying feeling that the only answer is a bed by bed overhaul. I think I might have rather a lot of work ahead of me.

The good news is that the basic structure looks as good as ever. How lucky was I that before I properly appreciated what a really good garden designer could achieve I had a really good garden designer as a friend. Thanks to my mate Judes there is absolutely nothing wrong and absolutely everything right with the way the garden is laid out so the backbone is there. And luckily, thanks to her, I realised pretty quickly how important it is to provide a framework of trees and shrubs. So the structure is all there too.

It’s the bits in between that I’m thinking could do with a bit of reworking. And I’m starting with the front garden. To be fair my front garden has been work in progress for the past – shameful to admit it – over two years. Which is when we moved our front door from the side of the house to the middle.

We’ve lived in this house for coming up for fourteen years, and the thing that never worked terribly well for most of that time was the front entrance.

It was tacked onto a corner, from the days before we moved in when the house was smaller, with the porch leading through a front door into a narrow corridor. So that people came in and were surprised that there was more house than they expected.

The dining room window is the one in the middle.... — In those days the front garden left a lot to be desired….

And it’s going to sound really sad, but I spent years trying to come up with a solution. Move walls here, put doors there, make this room smaller, that room bigger. Nothing seemed to work and I ended up thinking that we would just have to live with it the way it was. Until Christmas three years ago when I had one of my Eureka moments (they come if you wait for them) and realised that the thing to do was to lose the dining room, because it was never a very nice dining room, and we were always happier in the kitchen; turn what was the dining room into an entrance hall; turn the existing entrance ‘corridor’ into a downstairs loo; turn the existing downstairs loo (never great because of a difficult sloping ceiling) into a rather wonderful cupboard/walk in larder. And hey presto. A reworked house that worked the way it should have always worked, but just never did. Hurrah!

Except that when you move a front door from the side of the house to the front, the front garden needs reworking too. And it coincided with me being tied up with family stuff, and then I started the garden design course…. And time got taken over. And it slipped away the way it does.

So suddenly it’s two and a half years later, and the front garden still looks like it did when the builders left but a bit tidier.

Except for now I’m a garden designer. So that’s not great…..

But finally, a couple of weeks ago, I get round to looking at it. And it’s my first chance to put some of the stuff I’ve learned into practice.

Box balls in waiting.... — Box balls in waiting….

So I did. And although you might not be able to see it yet, I think its going to work. I actually did some sketching to help me work it out. And I planned it properly. When I walk through it now I’m really pleased with it. More than pleased with it. I’m really excited about it. Because when it’s all grown up I think it’s got the potential to be a front garden I can be proud of.

Give it some time.... — Just give it some time….

And these days that matters.

The Old Dog Book List….

On March 27, 2014 By janeIn BooksLeave a comment

So here we go….

I’ve met with my first client, agreed the brief for my first job and I’m going back to do the survey next week. I’ve been down to deepest Kent to look at my sister’s front garden. Taken photos, done a bit of sketching. My pencils are sharpened, my desk is tidy, the books that were piled up on the floor are neatly arranged in the bookcase….

…. hold on, they should have been neatly arranged. But when I sat down this morning to organise them I got sidetracked. Because to hell with fiction, who cares about poetry; this year I’ve been gardencentric to the point of obsession. I’ve discovered the joys of secondhand gardening books and the postman has been plodding up to my front door on a pretty regular basis with parcels of garden focussed literature. When I pick one up I find it very hard to put it down again without reading a few pages. So this morning turned into more of a reading than an arranging experience.

I was amazed to find out how many there were. But when the books cost less than the postage it’s hard to resist. Some have been good, some have been bad, some have been downright ugly. But the good have become close friends and they’ve seen me through some tough times.

There have been some unexpected pleasures. Open the front cover of A.M. Clevely’s The Integrated Garden and you find a handwritten message on the flyleaf – ‘To my Darling from his Darling on his 30th Birthday. 14.11.1988.’ And the imprint of a lipstick kiss. How intriguing. Like the plot of a Richard Curtis film. Who were they and where are they now? Did ‘my Darling’ lose interest in his garden? Why did he give the book away?

Then there is the book with the Northamptonshire Central Library sticker inside the front cover. Turns out it should have been returned by 1.11.2010. Oops. Someone’s in trouble. I hope it’s not me.

And there’s the rough sketch of a planting plan for a rose garden tucked into the pages of Beth Chatto’s The Green Tapestry. The scent of old roses and lavender drifts into my imagination from the faded scrap of paper. I’m tempted to try and recreate the plan for one of my designs.

These books are so much more than they seem. Each one is a mystery, has a history, a backstory of usage and inspiration. I feel honoured to be the next in line to benefit from their wisdom.

I realise that my crammed bookcase is a testament to my quest for the book with all the answers. Have I found it? No. But there have been some pretty close contenders. And before I turn my back on studenthood I just want to offer up a list, for anyone who might be interested, of the books that have been most useful, the titles I will be keeping by me to turn to for guidance and inspiration in times of need.

First off…. anything by Beth Chatto.

Then there’s:

Brian Davis’s Gardener’s Essential Plant Guide

Roy Lancaster’s Perfect Plant Perfect Place

Hilary Thomas and Steven Wooster’s The Complete Planting Design Course

Jill Billington’s New Classic Gardens

John Brookes The Garden Book

James Blake’s An Introduction to Landscape Design and Construction

Tania Compton and Andrew Lawson’s Dream Gardens: 100 Inspirational Gardens

Michael E Doyle’s Colour Drawing (for advice on hand-rendering plans – and lots of what looks like good stuff for Photoshop users but since I’m not one it’s lost on me!)

I’m sure there are others that my fellow students could add to this list. And if anyone feels that way inclined I’d love to know what they are. But these are the books that I keep on going back to.

And maybe I’ll tuck a few notes and messages in between their pages for the next person in line to use them.

So now what….?

On March 15, 2014 By janeIn New tricks, The KLC Course4 Comments

You know how it is when you’ve got a really good friend you’ve been meaning to ring….

The thing is that you haven’t spoken for a while and there’s a lot of catching up to do. So you keep putting it off until you’ve got enough time for a really good gossip. But the longer you leave it the more there is to talk about. And before you know it weeks have passed and you haven’t made the call and she (or he) is beginning to think you’ve forgotten all about her and don’t love her any more.

Well that’s what it’s been like with this blog. There’s been a lot going on, and I keep sitting down to write about it. But then there isn’t enough time. So I leave it and promise I’ll go back to it. But I don’t. And now, how did that happen, a month has passed and I’m coming to the end of my course, and spring is here in all its fabulousness, and I’m all set to embark on the next stage of this journey called life (ooer, sorry about that…. I’ve just come over all Frank Sinatra).

Anyway, loads has been happening, and it’s exciting, and I’m just going to have to write a few posts in quick succession to bring this blog up to date. And then I can go back to the weekly updates that have been working pretty well for me – and hopefully for you – until it all went tits up and I stopped writing regularly.

So….

Where to start?

Well first there’s the career. You know what I’m talking about? That thing you’re supposed to embark on when you get to the end of a course that has been preparing you to offer a service that people will (hopefully) pay you for. Well next week I’m going in to the KLC studios at Hampton Court for my last day, and it might sound a bit mad but I hadn’t really given much thought until now about the bit that comes next. And now it’s here, and it’s all a bit new and scary, and there’s a part of me that’s thinking that maybe I’ll just go back to writing my unpublished books and forget about the whole garden design thing.

Except for life isn’t letting me duck out of this one. The garden in Hampton that I went to see a year ago is still waiting for me, and I’m going back next week to remind myself of what needs doing. I’m helping friends to plant up their front garden in Kinston; getting on intimate terms with pleached hornbeam. My sister wants me to come up with a cunning plan for her garden in Broadstairs. And hopefully there are more people out there who want some help with their gardens and like the idea of a bit of old dog knowhow. So I can’t stick my head in the sand and pretend I was just doing this course for fun. It’s time to get out there.

Which I’m really excited about. Because now that the year is finally ending (after a fair amount of ducking and diving) I can’t wait to get started. Although it hasn’t always felt like it, I’ve learnt a lot. And now I want to put it into practice.

So watch this space. From hereonin this blog will record the ramblings of a newbie garden designer.

BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT I AM.

My Eureka Moment….

On February 11, 2014 By janeIn The gardens at Hampton Court, The KLC CourseLeave a comment

So – to borrow from the Olympics – I’ve negotiated the rails, executed a couple of backside 360s, a pretty spectacular frontside 720, and the finishing line is in sight.

Project 5 is presented and put to bed, and we’ve had a few days to dust the snow off our bobble hats and clear the ice from our goggles. Tomorrow we pick up the brief for the final part of this mad, bad and dangerous to know….

….garden design course.

Ok, so I know it’s not a dangerous sport. But it hasn’t half felt like it! In the course of the year I’ve laughed, cried, decided that garden design most definitely wasn’t for me, dropped out, and dropped back in again. I’ve cursed, thrown things, had several nervous breakdowns…. But I’m nearly through. And the last few weeks have been a bit of a revelation for me. Because I’ve realised that…. you know what…. I can actually do this thing.

It took Project 5, set at the beginning of this final term, to show me the light. Our brief was to come up with a design for the private garden of the Chief Executive and Information Department Staff at…. drum roll…. the one and only, wonderful Hampton Court Palace. My favourite place…. How lucky was that…..

It wasn’t an easy brief. Oddly shaped garden, split into three awkward areas with limited access, which needed pulling together and turning into an inviting space to tempt the staff outside to use it, while delivering year round interest for those inside looking out while they worked. They wanted fragrance, cottage style planting, places to sit. All this had to be achieved without obstructing the view of the building from the outside. So quite a challenge.

But you know what…. I did it. I came up with a concept, design and a planting plan that really worked. That had cohesion and flow and functionality. That I would have been happy to see turned into reality. And that has given me great confidence.

Ok so the presentation of the concept was…. well let’s be honest…. it was pants. Because I came up with the concept, layout and planting in reasonably good time. And then spent the next couple of weeks doing battle with the technology.

Computer aided design – three words that strike fear into the depths of my soul. I lost entire planting plans never to be found again. Spent days trying to work out why I couldn’t get the plants to appear with their names. Prepared lists and schedules in one part of my computer that I simply couldn’t find out how to transport into a place where I could print them out. Things appeared in one shape and size on my computer screen and came out of the printer looking completely different. It was a nightmare. But in the end I managed to produce a master plan and a planting plan.

So I’m getting there. Slowly, in my own time. There is light at the end of this particular tunnel. I won’t get a good mark for my presentation. But that’s fine. Because now it’s just a question of polishing up my skills. You can learn this stuff, this computer generated, bells and whistles, walk me through a 3d model of your design, technology. It’s not rocket science. (Ok so maybe it is. But it’s rocket science for mere mortals like me.) The important thing is coming up with a good design in the first place.

And I can.

Who knew….

On February 8, 2014February 8, 2014 By janeIn My Garden, The KLC CourseLeave a comment

I’ve got a confession to make.

This post was supposed to be all about the lightbulb coming on, by George I think she’s got it, moment that I had this week. The ‘you know what, I think I might actually be able to do this garden design thing’ discovery.

But telling you about how I got on with Project 5 will have to wait for another couple of days. Because first I’ve got to own up to a guilty secret.

You know all this weather we’re having….

Well I think it might be my fault. Actually not entirely my fault. My husband Graham has got to take his share of the responsibility. But the finger of blame is pointing straight at us.

I really had no idea, didn’t think, it never occurred to me. When I got myself organised at the start of December, ordered the hessian online, found the string, I thought I was doing the right thing. Just shows you how wrong you can be. Wrapping my tubs to protect them from the icy grip of winter seemed like such a good idea at the time. For the last few years they’d been naked and defenceless, cracking and crumbling as the relentless frosts did their worst. This time it was going to be different.

Then Graham went and got winter tyres for his car….

So there you have it….

What can I say except for I’m sorry. We should have thought. Tubs wrapped in hessian AND winter tyres. Of course it wasn’t going to get cold this year.

All I can say is that I promise we won’t do it again.

And for next winter we’ve ordered a WaterCar.

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