‘Well, one of the many reasons is that it is full of memories of wonderful fellow gardeners. Today’s pumpkin harvest is a perfect example! These are called “Greg’s pumpkins”, a variety developed by Greg Roberts and given to me by Claire Roberts 2 autumns ago to make a batch of pumpkin soup. They were so delicious that I kept some seeds with the intention of planting my own. The seeds are (typically) still in a jar but the excess seed waste must have survived in the compost bin and struck after I spread compost on the asparagus bed last spring. So here they are today, ripe pumpkins, a reminder of the late Greg’s daily pleasure and industry in his own beautiful garden! And whilst picking them and thinking of Greg, my thoughts wandered amongst other keen gardeners who are also sadly missed but whose memories are a constant presence in the garden plants they have given to me: Mrs Sawyer who owned our farm from around 1900 to the late 1960s and planted our treasured plum trees, our “helicopter tree” and our “naked lady” and snowflake bulbs; Marg Davies from Tarwin Lower whose potato vine has been a dominant feature of the garden for over 25 years; John Snell, whose flowering dogwood, mock orange and violets are beautiful reminders of his joy in gardens. A garden, you see, does not belong to just one person: It is a sum of all its parts, and carries in its life force the memories and spirits of all who contributed to its abundance and beauty.
Thanks, Greg Roberts, for the pumpkins and the memories!’ (Della)
