Il faut cultiver notre jardin

[steepholm]

In the summer of 1829 my great-great grandfather Thomas, then 19, and his younger brother George decided to turn the former playground of the school at 6 Cheyne Walk into a "fine garden."

At that point it was beaten down earth, and had been so since Thomas's grandfather, Weeden, acquired the house from Dr Dominicetti, who had used the garden to house his hydropathic baths, where from 1765 to 1782 the great and the gullible of Georgian England came to be fumigated, as shown in this cartoon:



Once Weeden's son (the younger Weeden) gave up the school, being sunk too deep in depression to carry on, it lay fallow until Thomas and George took it on. Thomas's daughter Annie wrote later of their achievement:

What a joy that Cheyne Walk garden became—in consequence partly, I suppose, of the toils of the next few months! What a paradise to us, the children of the next generation! The soil was bad, and we came continually on bricks which we children considered the remains of Dr. Dominicetti’s baths ... But what did bricks or the quality of the soil matter when hedges of cabbage roses and a thicket of many-tinted lilacs flourished here, and lilies many kinds, from the Turk’s head to masses of lily of the valley; when wallflower sowed itself in the mellow brickwork boundaries, and stonecrop ran over the wall; and when jessamine, southernwood and lavender breathed their sweetness through the walks? Immense sunflowers and peonies were here too, and a very wealth of double dahlias; while Aaron’s rod blossomed forth in its golden glory by the side of other flowers which are but seldom, if ever, seen now. They took kindly, these old-world flowers, to the unimproved soil. So also did the great bed of giant rhubarb and the cat’s-head apple trees, the monster fruit from which might have taken a prize at any horticultural show.

Sadly, a few months later younger brother George died, aged sixteen, which was the final blow for Weeden, who followed soon after. Thomas and the garden thrived, though, the former living till 1908 and almost making his century. Is gardening good for you? The evidence is mixed.

This has all been on my mind as I've faced up to my own garden. My new house, built on a car park, was provided by the builders with a small garden, with a generous amount of decking, and also some astroturf, lying atop clayey aggregate incapable of supporting life.



Seeing this arrangement, did my heart quail? No? Did I make like Thomas and George and get gardening? Even more no. Rather, I remembered Hilaire Belloc's wise fable:

Lord Finchley tried to mend the Electric Light
Himself. It struck him dead: And serve him right!
It is the business of the wealthy man
To give employment to the artisan.

How much more honour there is in paying someone else to do the work and watching them through the window than in selfishly having all the fun oneself and doing a poor job into the bargain. It's the way I choose, anyway. Watch the story unfold...



Here are twelve tons of soil that had to be wheelbarrowed through my living room (click the video to see it slide):





Yesterday I had a bit of a Burnham Wood moment when I opened the front door and found a group of people bearing pot plants and small trees. But here they are in situ, looking for all the world like a computer simulation.



We're still not done - there's a water feature to come, for one thing - but this is how I've been spending my time (or having someone else spend their time) over the last few weeks.

When I comes to gardening, I play by Lord Finchley rules.

Comments

[gillo]

It's going to look gorgeous - already an improvement. Very Ground Force. (Though please all the heavens they won't bring that one back too.)

[steepholm]

Yes - especially as I was away Monday night, and came back to the transformed garden! I resisted the temptation to wear a blindfold, though.

[cmcmck]

I'm glad to see we've not been the only ones doing the garden re-design thing! :o)

That's a huge improvement.

[steepholm]

Yes, I'm very happy with it.

[strange_complex]

That looks really nice! I hope it all settles in well and flourishes.

It's interesting to see the little glimpses into your neighbours' choices as well - one lot have just made the best of the astroturf; the other have rolled it up and seemingly done a reasonable job at coaxing growth out of what lay beneath (though I think I see rather a lot of pots and gro-bags).

I wonder if you will turn out to have set a trend?

[steepholm]

I don't think the veg-growing neighbours are using anything but gro-bags, etc. They are very committed to their veg, though - I admire their industry! The other ones have just had a small child, and maybe left the 'grass' for her sake. They also use the space for table tennis, paddling pool, and other fun activities. We all have our own style...

[shewhomust]

Wow, instant garden!

Whether by chance or design. it's only in the final picture that the camera angle reveals the greenery along the back wall - which adds to the effect!

[steepholm]

The hedging is new, but the Virginia creeper (I think?) was already there, and a nice freebie, especially in autumn when it should take on some interesting hues.