Garden Centre

 

Garden Centre

Something a little different for the garden that has everything!

The only outings I’ve had recently have been to the physiotherapist, and I needed to try my back out on something a little more taxing than climbing in and out of the car and showing the physio what I can (or cannot) do.

This one has flirtatious eyes.

Yesterday, we decided to visit the nearby garden centre. Barry needed potting compost, and I wanted to wander round and look. A trolley provided adequate support, and I galloped off at high speed – well, high speed for me! - enjoying being out in the warm sun and seeing colourful massed flowers.

I think this horse was made from cardboard - quite effective, though.

I was tempted to buy many of the lovely things I saw, but resisted, since we have a lot of sorting out to do in the garden, and Barry’s got loads of seeds to plant. We did a lot of tidying and repotting this afternoon, and I forgot what I had learnt recently – that the stiff hairs on green alkanet can cause discomfort. Ouch! but not for long. Lesson learnt properly this time.

Deer, deer . . . actually, stag, stag

I did buy a large pot of lavender. I buy lavender plants every year and they always die, despite our attention – or maybe because of it. Anyway, I thought a more established plant might fare better than the usual smaller, cheaper ones I buy. After all, rosemary grows exceptionally well in our garden – we have two large shrubs that we’ve had for years – and lavender has similar horticultural requirements, so should thrive, too. We shall see!

Give us a hand!

I’ve been trotting up and down the garden path for a while. I say ‘trotting’ – it’s more like stumbling drunkenly in the dark – but I can now do it without a walking pole. In addition, I have been taking other exercise beside Liz’s physio-authorised ones, with her agreement.

My natural tendency is to go at things with a will – too much speed, not enough control, whereupon I wreck myself and cannot attempt anything further for days. This time, I am being very careful and gradually building the length of each exercise session. I started with one minute on each of three machines, beginning with the recumbent cycle, followed by the elliptical cross trainer and finally the hydraulic resistance machine.

Every couple of days, I increase the time by a minute. This contributes to a steady build-up of strength and stamina.

It doesn’t sound very much, but it’s a jolly sight more than I was capable of doing before February, and for many months before that.