The garden, mother and me

Page 31 . Fuel the flames of curiosity. And you will live to regret it Mother really enjoyed having some information to pass to her friends, it was have you seen what they are doing up the road from me. They are building new extensions to the houses and having new drives put in, must be costing them a fortune. There were oooohs and ahhhhs coming from the mothers meetings that she held regularly in the super market, while sitting on her walker. Me I just got on with the shopping. One evening I was sat at home and I thought what fun it would be to look on the local planning application web site, to see what other people were going to build and let mother know. I found pages of applications that were close to her, so I printed the details off. The next time I saw her, “Mother look what I have found for you, pages of planning applications” I grinned. “Oh where did you get those, let me see” mother is a right one for local gossip. “On the internet, you can sear...

Page 30 Mothers not nosey, Just curious. We are of shopping today, mother has done the shopping list and I have checked the cupboards to make sure she hasn’t forgotten anything. .0   I always think of shopping day as organised chaos. Mother comes to the front door where the walker is ready and waiting, I hold the handbag and of we go. With mother safely in the car the walker put in the boot, we head for the super market. “Slow down” shouts mother. “What’s the matter” I say braking, looking for a speed camera or worse. “I wanted to see what they were doing at that house. But you were going to fast for me to see.it doesn’t matter now” “You could cause an accident shouting like that. What were you looking at?” I was really annoyed. “They seem to be doing some building work at that house, I only wanted to see what they were having done” mother looks so innocent at times. “Are you becoming a nosey neighbour” I tease. “No, I was just curious th...

Page 29 Spring is the time of awakening flowers. And mothers primroses. It’s time to get into the garden again. So off I go to mothers ready to start on a major spring tidy up of the garden. “Hi mother I am going in the garden today, it needs a tidy up” “You were out there the other day. What else could need doing” mother!! “The weeds are coming up, the dead flower stalks need removing, do you want me to continue?” phew she is hard work. “I will spend a couple of hours outside then come in for a cuppa and cake.” “Oh Alright but wrap up warm and don’t do too much” (cake normally wins her round) I really enjoyed being outside messing around for a few hours. When I went back inside. I sat and told mother that the spring flowers were coming up and that the lawns needed mowing again when it was dry enough. (Big mistake) “You can’t mow the lawns the primroses are out. I had this with the other gardeners.NO” (mother and her primroses) “Their mainly in the...

Page 28. To be told not to do, Is like a red rag to a bull, for me Today I am in the garden doing this and that after a mild winter the lawns need cutting and a general tidying up. I have gradually got the garden back into some semblance of neatness, I wouldn’t go so far as to say a beautiful garden, but at least the house looks lived in. Mother often asks about the garden at my house and I tell her about the plants I am growing and my vegetable plot. “Don’t think your digging a vegetable plot here” mother suddenly says. Well, up until that point I hadn’t even thought of it, but know the idea had been put in my head. ”I wouldn’t even contemplate digging up the lawn for a vegetable garden, there are far too many rabbits round here” I said indignantly, but mentally I was planning, plotting where to put a vegetable plot. Where ever I put a vegetable patch it had to be somewhere that wouldn’t entail digging up grass, ummm, there was that bed of shrubs at th...