 |
| Ransomes by Angela Lewin |
I have a dilemma.....
There is a slight feeling of dissatisfaction about this blog.
This was after all supposed to be a diary, an aide-to-memoir so that I could look back over it in in the future and do some forward planning based on it. But truth be told it's not really working out like that.
I find it quite difficult to write about a lot of gardening that is in effect a chore and it's hard to make it interesting for me or anyone else.
I gave up posting about the weather (how British is that?) but it is useful to be able compare weather patterns but just a bit dull. There are also other distractions and tangents that I could go off on, such as a recipe or a country walk.
And then there are photos. Hundreds of them over the weeks all needing to be sorted and filed.
All of this is fine as it is related to the main subject matter but I would like to be more focused....
Perhaps I should take the proverbial leaf out of Søren's book at Flâneur Gardening. It is much more positive to post what's been done in the garden over a period of time than what still has to be done. The former gives a surprising insight into how much has been accomplished. The latter just seems an endless list of things needing to be done. In my case stretching on into infinity!
Some people manage to blog every day and make it an interesting journey. An example of this Alan's excellent blog. The title says a lot about positive attitudes!
Others post less often(presumably because they're gardening) but equally well. I was very taken with Adrian's beautifully written observations about how he spends his time in the garden and with the minimum use of photos!
And then there are Laura's delightful musings at Patio Patch. What a gem!
This is what I aspire to without forgetting this is supposed to be about gardening and what I have done in the garden. And if it's interesting, well, that's a bonus!
Focus on the things you need to remember. Do you really need to know the temperature on a particular spring day unless it was the highest ever in 92 years or a sudden freeze that took out your seedlings? When you write what pleases yourself, it will please others. By showing my Agapanthus in bloom in 2010 I was able to figure out they might be blooming later this year too.
ReplyDeleteHi Nell Jean, It's been a pretty strange year over here weather-wise and probably won't be repeated. So probably I don't need that info. But I do have a tendency to forget when to sow seeds (I was very late this year with some)and when I pruned such and such a plant. So I do find that is useful to know. Obviously photos etc will aid memory. I do know my photography is a whole lot better now! Thanks for the words of advice.
ReplyDeleteI think that's the key to good blogging, if it's interesting to you, it will be interesting to others. Maybe not to everybody, but that's the point of having loyal followers!
ReplyDeleteI was trying to be slightly ironic. It obviously it didn't come over that way. The irony being that I was trying to keep a blog as a diary among others things(having failed miserably with the paper version) but that's the bit I don't always find very interesting to do!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you just don't want to keep a diary... ;) I have to admit, although I like the IDEA of keeping a diary, I just won't do it. There are times I regret the lack of a diary, such as when I can't recall which specific protocol worked for propagating a particular plant, and I have to reinvent the wheel. At least if I repeat enough, the info will eventually stick. :)
ReplyDeleteI think you're right sweetbay....
ReplyDelete