St Peters RC Church Hamilton

Cottage garden, ever as pretty as a picture.

A relaxed look of vegetables with flowers

Being its most notable, insistent, more individual feature.

This style of garden ever adoptable it seems,

Wants to keep as close to nature as possible.

The charming appeal of the nostalgic cottage mix

Of fruit, vegetables, herbs and flower borders,

Suggest a full order, productive and pretty,

Not possible in the smaller plot confines of a city.

The cottage garden design is also fine in its history.

Making the optimum use of garden space,

All the plants were cultivated with a selected purpose:

For fresh and nutritious fruit and vegetables,

Home made medicines, the benefit of a herbalist,

Dye plants for colour woven into suitable fabrics,

And last but not least, for the attractiveness of cut flowers,

Offering summer hours full of indoor pleasure to an admirer.

Food crops and ornamentals jostle along together,

Requiring, competing in fact, for nutrient richness.

The soil therefore needs to be rich,

And in the economy of a cottage style gardener’s skill,

Usually a compost of well rotted organic matter is the answer,

Spread in layers across the soil in the quieter winter season.

The 20th century well known Vita Sackville West

Describes the ideal cottage garden:

“A jumble of flowering shrubs mingled with roses, herbaceous

plants with bulbous subjects, climbers scrambling over hedges,

seedlings coming up wherever they have chosen to sow themselves.”

A portrait of the quintessential English garden,

Plants close packed informally, easy on the eye,

Freely spreading self sown flowers, fruit, herbs, vegetables and

Traditional roses, full with fragrance, sweet pea and runner bean climbers,

A dazzling of dahlias, ornamental and prairie grasses,

Together with hardened fruit trees and plenty of potatoes.

Broad beans, cauliflower, cabbage and kale,

Amidst fabulous fuchsias, generously coloured geraniums and lovely lavender.

Marigolds and poppies may be a feature, with hint of rosemary,

Tint of mint, onions, lettuce and radishes.

Actually the array could go on and on a-plenty, all lovely!

A honeysuckle over the house door would complete the picture!

What a fabulous feature of random colour and texture,

Not forgetting the sweet fragrance of a garden lily,

And night scented stock to unlock the pleasure.

Who would never treasure the cottage garden,

A measure of variety and popularity, offering glory to God.

Lord, may we ever treasure a cottage garden, as unpretentious as we should be! Thank You for the wealth in abundance in the tightly packed jumble of fruit, vegetables and flowers all grown for our health and benefit.

We praise Your generous kindness towards us. Amen.