Mindful Gardening Newsletter No 39

Frosted Mornings, Birdsong Serenades, and the Quiet Wisdom of the Garden

Another week and its Sunday evening when I start to write about the happening in the garden here in Cordressagagh. Much of the week has been windy, raining and we had lots of frost. There is a kind of beauty to the way in which the frost touches various plants. I love the way the angelic and the teasel look on frosty mornings.

I love it now that each morning I hear the song of the blackbird. He/she sits in the big tree overlooking the picnic table that has become a bird table where I spread a banquaet of meal worms, sunflower seeds and half peanuts. When I hear this blackbird singing I am always reminded of the song Blackbird by Paul McCartney and I think I should learn to play it on guitar.

The Joy of Birdsong

One of the delights of this time of year is that I get to watch the geese fly overhead on their way back home heading West. Over the last month I have heard them calling but it was only this week that I saw about fifty in a group in the shape of a ceveron flying over the West end of the cottage. The noise they made from honking was a delight to listen to. When I see them I am always reminded of the Mary Oliver poem Wild Geese.

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver.

Planting Red Robin Hedging

Planting up Red Robin hedging in Rumi Garden

Its that time of year when I start to plant bare root hedging. I purchased fifty bare root Red Robin plants that I spent some of today planting along the Western edge of what will be the Rumi garden. This hedging grows faster than boxwood so I intend to add it around a lot of the garden rooms. One of the animal totams that I love is the robin.

We have a couple here in the garden and one loves to come an sit on the spade of the wheelbarrow. I talk to it and keep watch for the cats as it feeds on various titbits it picks up from my turning over the soil. The Red Robin hedging is an appropriate choice for me.

If I can stop one heart from breaking,

I shall not live in vain;

If I can ease one life the aching,

Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin

Unto his nest again,

I shall not live in vain.

Emily Dickenson

The New Lawn Appears

Test lawn bed has seeds growing.

In the high winds that blew through Cordressagagh this week the geotext that covered the test area for a new lawn was blow off. I was delighted to see little green sprouts from all the grass seed that was sown. So next week I will be adding to the area so that we might have a lawn to walk on for the spring.

I have planted it on top of black plastic so this gives me the option of taking it up in layers when it has matured and laying sections of it down in other parts of the garden. The test bed has a lot of crocus in it so we will have to wait to see if these come up in spring. Then if the rest of the lawn is successful I can simply dig up some sods and plant crocus underneath these.

Cat Penthouse in Fairy Garden

Cat Penthouse in Fairy Garden

There are things that get hidden in the garden during the summer and that only get revealed in the late autumn or winter after the frost. I once discovered the remains of an old sitar that I had bought in New Delhi when I lived in India. I decided it was to hard on the fingers and probably too hard on the ears although I so loved the sound.

I found what I call the cat penthouse. It was insulated with silver foil for extra warmth and each night there was a hot water bottle placed inside. It never worked because the cats that turned up always ended up on the bed or under the duvet. I often wonder what inhabits this cat kennel during the time it can’t be seen.

I have lived with several Zen masters—all of them cats. – Eckhart Tolle

Conclusion

Angelica covered in frost

That is what is happening over the last week in the garden at Cordressagh. I have spent much of the time this week in writing another Substack Newsletter which I will be launching in the New Year. This shares my interest in what is called Christian mysticism and it will be a fifty two week presentation that includes guided meditation scripts and journal prompts. This new Substack is entitled Bringing Heaven to Earth.

So I hope you have a good week and I leave you with another favorite bird poem that brings the bird celebration full circle.

Birdsong

Birdsong brings relief

to my longing

I'm just as ecstatic as they are,

but with nothing to say!

Please universal soul, practice

some song or something through me!

Rumi - Translated by Coleman Barks.

Excerpts from the translation of Rumi by Coleman Barks. © by owner. provided at no charge for educational purposes