It’s October already, I can hardly believe it. The red wine grapes are almost ripe and the last few sweet peas are blooming. My little garden is wild and overgrown, it has a lot of indigenous plants, or weeds as most people call them. I wouldn’t have it any other way though, I really love having a goldenrod and Queen Annes lace around.
Our grapevine has crawled up one side of the fence and down the other. It has engulfed and claimed both sides. I’m not sure how the neighbours feel about this (I’m antisocial) but I hope they are enjoying it. There are lots of spiders spinning webs amongst the greenery and little birds visit there too. There were some little brown ones with white spots singing and eyeing up the grapes this afternoon. I wonder if they like them and are waiting until they are just perfect. I don’t mind if they eat some, the rest will be made in to wine or grape jelly.
My garden looks like a green chaos compared to most of the other well manicured back cubes behind the town houses here. The forest is behind us, and I feel it’s reached out and reclaimed the space. The situation reminds me of a poem I’ve always loved by Edna St. Vincent Millay called “Portrait by a neighbour” (you can listen to it here at librivox, If you use firefox just right click and open it in a new tab).
Portrait by a Neighbour
Before she has her floor swept
Or her dishes done,
Any day you’ll find her
A-sunning in the sun!
It’s long after midnight
Her key’s in the lock,
And you’ll never see her chimney smoke
T’il past ten o’clock!
She digs in her garden
With a shovel and a spoon,
She weeds her lazy lettuce
By the light of the moon,
She walks up the walk
Like a woman in a dream,
She forgets she borrowed butter
And pays you back in cream!
Her lawn looks like a meadow,
And if she mows the place
She leaves the clover standing
And the Queen Anne’s lace!
