my first plant in the ground.

This is it.
It's a big moment....
My first ever plant put in to the ground in my first garden!
It had to be my favourite, Foxglove. And when I saw this pink beauty looking at me in B&Q (not very proper but I needed timber!) I couldn't resist.

The bees seem to be enjoying it.

It was a damn pain to get in. The earth was packed solid and I have no proper tools expect a hand fork and a (now very dented) rusty old trowel.

I'm not looking forward to digging up the rest of the borders (when I can eventually see them). I'm trying to think of it as a good whole body work out now I'm not a member of a gym.

starting basic.

I'm supposed to be waiting for our letting agents to organise a gardener to come in and clear our garden. But with a bad start to the week (general blues and a friendship-gone-bad continuing to circle over my head) I needed something to pick me up and for the first time in a long time, exercise didn't seem like the answer. And I didn't have any beer.

So I started clearing out our jungle of a garden. I know I'll be told off for taking it in to my own hands but I couldn't help it.

I should have taken a better photo of the brambles on the right. Clearing them felt a lot like this:

Except I was the horse.

But in all honesty, it was one of the most relaxing things I've done in a long time. Enough concentration required to not be monotonous but never strenuous.

I think I've found my meditation.

settling in.

The boy I share the new flat and a large chunk of my life decided that earning money whilst on a beach in Guadeloupe sounded like a much better idea than earning money in a potentially rainy UK.

I can't say I blame him. I can say I'm jealous of him.

To distract me from my loneliness in a new city, my best friend came to stay the weekend before also leaving me for more exciting climates (Slovenia).

I'll get my holiday revenge on both of them one day but until then, Oxford has proved somewhat delightful in the sun. Helped endlessly by FINALLY having a garden!

Okay so it's more of a small meadow than a garden. But it's covered with friendly bees and even has a small bistro set.