Nothing is more memorable than a smell

"Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains..." - Diane Ackerman

We have been adding things to the garden to it make more of a sensory and memory garden. We have been looking at the plants in the garden and the sensory qualities they have, and labelling them up. The grasses, trees and sweetcorn all make sounds in the wind. Other plants such as the lavender and borage have the sound of bees buzzing round them. The herbs and roses smell. Tomatoes, herbs and peas stimulate the sense of taste. We have ‘furry’ plants and pebbles to touch. And many colourful plants to catch your eyes. So go round the garden and see what senses you can use. Our new labels will hopefully get you started.

As part of our making the garden more ‘sensory’ we have added more things to the book tree. The ‘Find it’ cards, a sensory game. A treasure hunt where visitors use pictures to find things round the garden. And a memory book. This shows pictures of things to do with the garden and the area round it. Along with some prompts to get people to talk about what the pictures make them think of. These are aimed at visitors accompanying someone with dementia, but can be used by anyone. It would be great to get feedback on them, so we can improve the next book.

Our play area has been replenished with animals, dinosaurs and diggers ready for the summer holidays. This area gets a lot of use by our younger visitors, and sometimes their parents!

The veg garden has finally finished producing its Peter Rabbit story for the summer, with Peter sitting in the radishes. The story is told by using small scenes dotted round the area. So try to spot them, and the 2 hidden shoes.

I’ve been picking beans and courgettes this week. The mixed weather and watering has been making them grow well.

New in the garden is an unusual fruit called a Japanese wineberry. It’s bit prickly though, so mind your fingers. And yet another type of fungi has been growing in the reading area.

We had a BBQ on the 31st of July when the RHS were judging the garden. Much of what we ate contained herbs and veg from the garden. It was fun to have friends of the garden getting together to celebrate another year of gardening.

The Blooming Old Gardener