PATHWAYS AND SCYTHE NEWS

First my Austrian scythe has arrived from Simon Fairlie (www.thescytheshop.co.uk). I have put it together and will wait for the grass to be a bit drier before I get going. I may need lessons especially with regard to keeping it sharp but we will see.

Can the strimmer be dead and a thing of the past?

Sometimes a garden can be like life.
I see one's travel through time from birth to death rather like a thread or string running its course, touching, crossing, running parallel with other people's strings.

This string is our pathway though time.
In a garden we also have paths, linking different parts of the garden, crossing one another.
In the rough sketch - a two dimensional image - you can see a representation of both a three dimensional cube and a fourth dimension represented by the darker line. The box has height, breadth and depth, the contents are time.

I am not going to get into whether all this is predestined - I do not think this. I believe we are making our path (string) as we progress.

So, now I have bored you stiff, I am going gardening.

Here is where there is a parting of the ways, one path, to the right, going up into the wood, the other doing the same but at a gentler slope. The paths are of blue slate chippings.

Further up the righthand path it bends back to meet that of the left. Apart from the grass paths - see below - we do have two hoggin paths - crushed stone - one down to the Wendy House, the other around the southern aspect of the house.

With this more formal path the edges can be sharp and these are softened by planting that overlaps. The image below shows London Pride, a saxifrage, and a deep cerise rockrose under lavender. beyond is a light blue geranium.

Now here are four photos of the mown paths in the garden, three in the woodland and the fourth, to the right, heading out across the stream to the far dry stone wall where there is and old box for a seat.

I cut the short areas with a small mower, trim the longer grass with a sit-on one.

As far as I know we have discussed the situation around the new pond but have not yet finalised things.

Of course to have paths al over the garden is great for the grandchildren

Going around a garden via its paths is an exploration so it is important to have surprises, carefully positioned things to catch the imagination.

I am now going to give up this blog as the broadband has become excruciatingly slow. This is even more annoying as the local town is whizzing about with fibre optic cables and many many Mb of up down and even side load!

My piece of string is a bit frazzled and smoking.