No, this is not going to be another post about what it looks like when I work from home, surrounded by vases of blooming forsythias or whatever. This is about REAL work, the kind that will produce visible, tangible results in the garden.
There is a large table in the bathroom that would probably be ideal for changing nappies if you had a baby, but since we don’t I have put it to other use:
I use it as a work surface for sowing seeds and potting up cuttings, and then the results are transferred to the windows around the apartment, especially the bedroom window since this is the window that gets the most sun (from dawn to around 1pm). The sitting room windows get slightly less sun, so I use those mainly for cuttings and for growing on tubers and roots.
This is what I currently have growing in the apartment (with a few omissions because there were pots I forgot I had tucked away):
As you can see I’m cheating by starting off the dahlia tubers in the apartment. This is because the slugs love them, and I figure a larger plant will be more able to survive a slug attack than a completely new shoot. There are also dahlia seedlings, pots with dahlia seed that has yet to make an appearance and – because the tubers grow so happily – a small pot with three dahlia cuttings that so far look like they will survive.
There are also two pots with tomato seeds and of course a tray of sweet peas. (And a box of DEGT seed – Don’t Even Go There – i.e. Zantedeschi Aethiopica with a germination period up to 3 months…)
And in the back of the dining table you can see a vase of dogwood branches that have rooted in the water. The variegated foliage is still pretty and adds a touch of spring to the apartment, but more importantly the roots are well-developed and eventually I will cut the branches back to only a couple of leaves and then plant them out in the hedgerow. I’m sure they will be happy there, and with dogwood there’s never even question about whether it will survive.
I do wish I could go out into the garden every afternoon after work, but since that’s not an option I do enjoy being able to get things going in the apartment, even though it will be a nightmare to transport everything up to the garden by bus and metro and train and bus…
(Oh, and tomorrow I’m flying over to the Flâneur Husband in Aberdeen and will be returning on Sunday with a suitcase full of three small rhododendrons that I will then plant in the garden on Monday… It seems silly in a way to move plants that far, but on the other hand they’ve brought him so much joy during his expatriation that I think it’s perfectly sensible to bring them to Denmark so he can continue to enjoy them.)
Besides the joy they have given me Rhododendrons are also my favourite plant… (Okay, top three!)
So what are the other two in the top three? Let me know and you shall have them…
I know what you mean…I canot get out every day because of work hours but I have my seedlings
Miniature gardening, but with a larger purpose! Some day our little seedlings will go out into the world and become lovely plants…
I love the idea of a potting bench in your bathroom. I also admire your determination starting seeds off at home and then having to transport them to your garden by various modes. I have enough problems getting mine to my allotment 10 minutes walk away. This is generally because I think I can carry more than I actually can and get half way, realise my hands are going to drop off and have to park some plants under a tree whilst I drop the others off and then come back for the abandoned ones. It’s a pain in the proverbial but it’s amazing what us gardeners will do for the love of plants. I’m just going to pick some forsythia and other bits to make this house look nice for Easter wish it was a bit warmer. I’ve got me winter woollies on again.
I can be terribly stubborn when it comes to transporting heavy things… “You can do what you really want to”…
As for having little plants around the apartment, I think it’s rather lovely to have something growing around me. It makes me feel connected to the garden in a very concrete way, even when I’m in town.
I too admire what you go through for gardening. From growing the seeds to transporting plants. I cannot imagine taking plants on a bus, or growing seeds in a bathroom, it seems foriegn to me. My commitment to gardening pales in comparison.
Well, the Flâneur Husband wants a lush garden when he visits in May, so I’m gardening to a deadline here… And the other deadline is that he moves back to Denmark – finally after two years’ expatriation to Scotland – on June 1st, so obviously the garden and I want to throw him a welcome home party of growth and budding summer…
Also, it’s just plain FUN to watch seeds grow!
Hello again !
You have me imagining that wonderful hamock with all of those amazing roses growing up that tree : ) now what could be more like a piece of heaven layinh back and smelling/seeing those beautiful roses !
You have such patience to go through all of this for the garden .. I really hope it all works out the way you see it in your gardening imagination : )
And yes ! it is fun to see seeds do their dance of life when they break through the soil .. it is an amazing process and you are doing so well with it!
I also hope my plans will turn out the way I see it in my gardening mind .. if I could wipe out all traces of neighbors .. well that would be perfection!
Good luck .. you are one fantastic gardener Soren !
Joy
The proof is in the pudding, but so far it looks very promising, and perhaps even too promising… Where will I find room for all these plants? New beds will have to be dug out of the lawn!
And on top of this, last weekend my husband – who reads this blog and SHOULD know that I’m more than fully stocked on seed – brought back for more packets of seed from a trip to the supermarket, including some lovely-looking coleus, so of course if he’s selected the seed I’ll HAVE to sow it…
I’m very excited about the roses; one of the hammock trees are a somewhat character-less oak – not old enough to be dignified and interesting, but give it another 200 years and it will be a splendind tree, I’m sure! – and the other is a purple-leaf plum with a somewhat odd shape, so the roses will give some character to one and bulk out the other, I hope…