No Plans
This morning I have no plans. Nothing to do, no gigs, no chores, no work to do on the house, nothing – it’s great. I’ve been outside to the garden and had a potter… actually, let me tell you about our garden. It’s some rock ‘n’ roll shit, babies, seriously.
When we moved into our house our back garden was basically a courtyard. I have always had lots of plants and my family is full of gardeners, so we saw that courtyard and had only one thought on our minds. So we bought a ton of compost and a sledgehammer and, of the course of last Summer, took up slabs one at a time, dug in some good stuff and started to take it back.
It’s been a bit backbreaking, but quite fun wielding the sledgehammer, and now we have a couple of pretty decent sized beds and what’s left of the patio in the middle. It was mostly planted last year with very young plants, largely ordered from internet nurseries, so there’s a lot of bare earth. Everything’s had a year to bed in and put down some roots though, so this year we’re hoping for a bit more in terms of growth – we reckon we might just have a proper garden.
So every weekend for the past month we’ve woken up on Saturday morning, poured some coffee and wandered out into the back to peer and prod at our ever-increasing number of little shoots and buds. There’s something so exciting and satisfying about this time of year in a garden. All the dea, brown stuff starts to sprout tight-wound little buds of new life, and the whole thing just promises so much.
We’ve not done it the right way at all, in the sense that we haven’t planned it properly and we have no real idea what we’ve put in where, but that doesn’t matter. We’ll see what we get this year and tinker as we go along. It’s just nice. There’s something so relaxing about shuffling around the garden with a cup of coffee gazing at the exact same stuff you stared at last week.  I’ll take some pictures this year and post them so you can see what I’m on about. It’s not all coke and hookers in the world of rock ‘n’ roll, you know.
So, erm, what songs go with that, then? Saturday afternoon music, I suppose. You know what I mean: cup of tea, pyjamas, slightly weak March sunshine, flicking through a book, but not really paying much attention. Bliss.
The Mountain Goats – You Or Your Memory
The Mabuses – Dark Star
The Smiths – Frankly, Mr. Shankly[
(The Real) Tuesday Weld – At the House of the Clerkenwell Kid
The Innocence Mission – I Haven’t Seen This Day Before (Live)
Adem – Everything You Need
Aaaaah. I’m a bit hopeless as a gardener, and the impacted clay that passes for soil in this part of Virginia is no help at all. Still, it’s been in the high 60s or low 70s fahrenheit here for the last few days, and the buds and beginning to show on the Eastern Redbuds and Bradford Pears. I’ve planted a few Crape Myrtle trees and lilac bushes, and we have some pretty vigorous golden raspberry bushes behind the garage. A pretty time of year. In about two weeks the Japanese Maples that line the tidal basin in Washington, DC, will hit their peak, and Spring is officially here. Songs? How ’bout “You Can Never Hold Back Spring” from your very own beloved Tom Waits?
Many thanks for posting the Innocence Mission track. I haven’t heard it before. Where does it come from? What does “Welcome toThe Lagom” (in the album field) mean?
well all of my chores were finished 30 minutes ago so its a book and catch up with all the music that has landed on the pc this week , the phone is off the hook and the rain is hitting the window with some vigour now..
the Jacob golden lp has finished and its now onto Jonah Matranga -And.
As for the garden , the front looks delightful with daffodils everywhere and the back can just wait.
Great choice of songs
AB – Welcome to the Lagom is a compilation I made about four years ago, maybe more, from a series of sampler CDs on magazines and stuff like that. I think the Innocence Mission track came from a CD on the tragically now defunct Comes With a Smile. I don’t know the band, nor do I have any more of their songs unfortunately, so I’m afraid you’re on your own on this one.
Hello Joolz – It’s not raining here, but it is threatening every half hour or so. As they say in Scotland, if you don’t like the weather.. wait ten minutes and it’ll change. I think Jacob Golden played here quite recently actually, although I didn’t – shame on me.
Hello C&B old chap. Yes, I’m not sure what officially kicks it off around here. Crocuses are out, but the daffs are still sleeping in pretty much every garden. We don’t know much about gardening at all, but pretty much everything we’ve planted has thrived, so perhaps the soil under those slabs wasn’t too bad after all. And we did dig it through really thoroughly, which I guess helped.
Damn you man….is there nothing you can’t turn your hand to???
I detest gardening with a venegance.
We’ve a fair size here at Castle Clark at the insistence of my other half. And once a month, I fork out for a team of Irish navvies/Polish migrants to do the soty of ball-busting, back-breaking and frankly all-too-sweaty hard labour you’ve just mentioned.
I’d even go to a Keane gig than have to mow my lawn….
Gardening with Toad – there’s a whole new blog there. I can’t wait…
NERD!
lol. Can’t wait to see pictures. I remember loving all of the gardens I saw in my time in the UK. Quite a bit different from we consider a garden here. I think the best kind of garden is the unplanned garden, wild and beautiful. Cheers.
I remember Mrs. Toad facing one of her coolest friends and having to admit that her husband was a gardening blogger. She did not look impressed.
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