A sense of place - 2000

2000 was, I think, the first year my redesigned, replanted garden looked like it had settled into itself. Previous years I had been trying things out, improving the soil, reshaping. I'd made planting mistakes, and had to relocate plants that were obviously in the wrong place.

It had taken several years for the planting to look established, and for the trellising along the top of the wall to be covered with climbers, effectively raising the boundary and making the garden feel self-contained and private.

Climbing roses planted in spring 1998 had flowered very little until then, instead building up enough of a framework of branches to carry the flowers. In 2000 they were full of flower.

2000 was also the first year I became fully aware of the importance of the garden to the birds in the area. Robins nested in the ivy for the first time, in the spring, and the collared dove, later to become known as "Colin Dove" first started visiting in early 2000.

Woodland Corner was altered dramatically by the removal of a Clematis montana that grew up into the apple tree from next door's garden, where it had been planted against the fence. It was beginning to damage the tree, and the decision was made to remove it. This let a lot more light into the garden, as it was on the garden's south side. At first, I didn't like the change, but have to say that my other plants have since then grown to fill the more obvious gaps left by its removal.

From the real garden to the virtual one

The other good thing about 2000 was that I learned to make websites. I find the final entry in my typed garden journals, kept since 1997, is 31 July 2000. In August I had a conversation about websites, and through that month began to learn to make them. Creating this "virtual garden" was as exciting as working on the real one has been, but involved a steep learning curve. It's now a few years on from August 2000, and Turning Earth is still on the web, and has grown and developed, and all in all I'm sooooo pleased.

2001 - a comforting place