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Happy planting memories:

I am not a great gardener; in fact I am anything but green fingered. The chances are that anything I plant is likely to curl up and die instantly no matter what measures I take to try and nurture them. However, I love to be out in the garden and I really enjoy spending my time there, some of my happiest memories are of time spent doing my garden with my children and animals over the years. Gardening fun costs nothing and stays in your happy memories forever.

One memory in particular springs to mind. I have a little field where I have spent a lot of time having picnics and walking our dogs over the years with my children. We being my daughter Clarissa who was thirteen and Natasha Eleven and I went there one day back in 1998 to plant daffodil bulbs and a row of conifer trees to make a wind break and give the field some privacy. It was to become one of my fondest memories.
Clarissa had brought a school friend along and was busy mucking about drinking Coke as fast as she could from a litre bottle, instantly regurgitating it back out in a gush that nearly landed on me, producing extremely loud burps at the same time. We dug holes and planted the bulbs and conifers. All of us ended up covered in ground, absolutely filthy from top to toe, my fingernails all snapped off.
We all ran around like mad things with our dogs K9 my Collie cross Alsatian and Ivy our Toy King Charles Cavalier in my minds eye I can still see them bouncing up the field towards me laughing, Ivy's ears flapping around like bats wings, K9's tongue hanging out with a literal smile on his face with big grins all over the children's faces their blonde hair flying all over the place and laughter ringing out from all of us.
Clarissa had planted a packet of my cigarettes under one of the trees and we had to dig it up and replant it to retrieve them, which the kids found hilarious, I mean like fags are going to grow?
I lost my beautiful daughter Natasha to cancer in 1990, my soul mate dog K9 died from a broken heart in 1991 and our lovely little permanent puppy sized dog Ivy from cancer in 1997. Both K9 and Ivy are at rest in our field as it was their happy place. Now when I go to our field, see the conifers now fully grown swaying in the breeze, with the daffodils flowering all over the place or going back to this day in my minds eye, brings a smile to my face and I feel a warmth in my heart.
Without a place to garden and plant things to grow for the future I would not have had this amazing memory. Everyone should have a garden and in consequence their wonderful memories of time spent there.

Learn more about this author, Linda Corby.
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