Today I write about rebooting and restructuring my gardening life, I’m literally going to turn my work off and on again – things might get interesting!

This post was created in April, but not posted to my WordPress page due to reappraising my posting regime. Apologies for the break in service – hopefully normal service will now be resumed! (I have adjusted the text so it’s relevant to the here and now).

Welcome to my garden journal, the place where I pause to consider my gardening journey and look to the days ahead.

Firstly

Well, I’m back again with spring in my step and an update on my garden journal. We seem to have had a good run of useful and useable days of late, but haven’t we had a florally brilliant spring?!

We’ve had some radiant blossom-filled days, flowering cherry trees doing their thing over masses of spring flowering bulbs, and as I write after the tulips have come and gone, the alliums are taking their turn here there and everywhere. Days have finally stretched out so evenings can be put to good use, whether pottering out in the garden, a short but sweet visit to the allotment, or simply getting outside for fresh air and inspiration. Oh, and how could I forget; with the lifting temperatures I can once again sit back and write in the cool comfort of my garden hut…Happy days are here again!

On the work front…

Crikey, there’s so much I could say on the work front this time, but being both level-headed and sensitive, I will choose to keep my cards close to my chest – mostly.

Being open though I can admit to having quite the time of it since my last journal entry, with a working role that I accepted on a trial basis having not turned out as anticipated, shall we say. Now, as most will know I’m a resourceful chap, but having carried myself through a redundancy programme that started early in July last year, and having stepped into a trial role in February, even I came to realise in the end that enough was enough.

Organisational restructuring can be a brutal process, both for those on the list and for those who ‘survive’; there’s no hiding away from that. It must also be said that navigating such choppy waters can also, for some, turn out to be the making of them. For me, having always focussed on the saying that a door opens for a reason, I took an opportunity as if it were meant to be, at least that is, until I figured out that it was definitely not meant to be, at least not for me right now.

To summarise my last few weeks then, I’d simply say that whilst I could have sucked it up and kept my head down, I’m wise enough to realise that ‘plodding onward’ was neither healthy nor the way I wanted to exist; and it certainly wasn’t going to keep me in the best frame of mind to support the brilliant gardeners and gardens. If you can’t bring your A-game to such a role, the role will eat you up, and I’ve witnessed this personally.

In early May therefore, I handed back my trusty Head Gardener’s badge, and with a lump in my throat walked out into a new spring relieved in some way from the heaviness that redundancy brings. Yes, this still leaves me at a career drop-off point, but I’m loaded with ability and optimism, and a mindset that all this is happening for a reason, that in time will become apparent.

All being well, and maybe once I’ve had a day or two to think clearly (and get the allotment straight), I shall be guided by my angels and the stars above to re-emerge in pastures new, where my experience, creativity and dedication to the cause can be seen and put to good use. Oh, and to those brilliant people and places I will soon leave behind, surely it is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all…?

Let’s see where I pop up, eh!

In the Garden

After all that heaviness, it’s time to focus on a new year ahead that’s already treating us to some wonderful gardening weather. I probably say it every year but isn’t a sunny spring day just the absolute best?! Every year as we crest the spring equinox, from the first celandines and violets through daffodils, tulips, fritillaries and more, I go about my days like a proverbial kid in a sweet shop; I just can’t have too much garden time!

As seen frequently on my Instagram, I was blessed since early spring with that opportunity to work across three wonderful gardens. Whilst much time has been spent doing management tasks, I did manage a few days in my greens and safety boots; vitally important days for a real head gardener to breathe and connect. To therefore have seen each garden drift from being chilly, overcast and somewhat damp around the edges, through to being dust dry and bathed in summertime heat, well, it’s been an absolute delight. Thankfully though as I update this post, some rain has returned to quench each garden’s thirst.

When at work, I chipped-in with the annual potting up of parterre bedding plug plants at Charlecote and even dropped onto some mowing and mole damage repair on a games lawn. Whilst at home, aside from a slow-ahead approach to cutting back perennials plus some tying in and training, my largest task was been getting a new bed underway; a switch from lawn area to wildlife friendly planting. Oh yes, I did finally get my vegetable seeds sown into modules for the allotment.

I must also mention the containerised bulbs that worked well for me at home, most performing brilliantly in a range of pots placed around the garden. Apart from a few poor-quality bulbs that didn’t make it through, the rest were so worth the wait, but I guess that’ll teach me for buying some extras in the sales too late in the year!

Looking Ahead

As I update this post I am now of course living through days post redundancy, and preparing myself for new working days ahead – all TBC. In the days ahead therefore, whilst trying to not get side tracked by the busyness of May, I’ll be endeavouring to go slowly so as not to let the wonder of the season pass me by. To those ends therefore, I look ahead to the summer season with both an open mind as to where my next chapter shall begin; wish me luck!

On that note I’ll sign off for now and bid you well for the rest of spring.

Kindest regards, Gary. Gardening Ways.