Home grown, nature's own

As I mentioned in my 'Moving Home' post I currently live in the centre of Birmingham. It is a beautiful part of Birmingham, and very central; it is surrounded by swanky accountancy firms, train stations, and Victorian brick factories. In one direction the sound of metal work and machinery cuts over car engines, in the other, church bells toll every Monday night. If you turn right from the front door and walk for 10 minutes you will reach the central hub and bustle of Birmingham Bull Ring; however, if you turn left and walk for 10 minutes buildings will become gradually more and more disused, on the brink of falling apart, being held together only by the Pawn Shop sign that's recently been hung.

I love how strange and disparate Birmingham is, but I miss the hills. I grew up, you see, in the beautiful surroundings of Shropshire. I walked to school, I worked as a waitress in the local restaurant that used to be a coach station, I would visit the market with mum and dad on Saturdays and visit the library on the way home. Even as a teenager I was happy in my own company, and would actively avoid the main pathway home - instead I would cross under the motorway bridge, up the little muddy bank, over the rickety wooden bridge with the missing plank, and would then follow the woodland path until the I reached the top of my road. If I wasn't expected home by a certain time, I'd keep going and head towards the Ercall - to the woodlands and horses and fresh air.

As you can imagine, moving from one to the other was somewhat of a shock - some good, some uncertain. For a starters, it took me about 3 months to realise that places were still open and thriving past 5pm or, even better, they were actually open on a Sunday. 

I always felt very close to nature, and it holds a huge importance in my belief system and philosophy of life. So, what to do in a city? We live in a small group of flats with a communal courtyard/garden area and we are lucky to have a fantastic gardner who keeps the place looking beautiful. Trailing up the Victorian brick factory at the back of the flats are deep red roses and sweet magnolia; between each flat are thriving flower beds with poppies, lavender, foxgloves, bluebells, chinese lanterns, and yellow roses. In fact, we have more flowers here than we did in my garden as a child in Shropshire.

But I wanted to contribute something myself, to feel I am having some input and a connection with the small area of nature surrounding me in the heart of the second city. So off we trailed to Homebase one bank holiday Monday - I had a fairly clear idea in mind so it didn't take us long. We drove home (I had to sit in the back of the car cradling the apricot tree in order for Joe to see out of the windows and use the gear stick), and then I spent a happy afternoon "gardening". 

I made sure to place broken crockery and large stones in the bottom of my pots to allow the water an exit route. I carefully and lovingly planted my new additions - an apricot tree (small!), a small lavender shrub, rosemary, chives and thyme. I repotted the plants that the old tenant had left, and realised that after clearing some weeds we had a mint plant too! I arranged the pots on our little stone porch (not sure you can call it a porch really - it's approximately 2 metres in length and 0.5 metres in depth and is simply large stone slabs outside our side door). I look after them and water them and have even asked for a watering can for my birthday (currently using a mixing jug each night...).

We only have 2.5 metres of ground that we can call our own on the edge of the courtyard, in the middle of the city. But with those few metres we are growing beautiful flowers and useful herbs - I've already used the rosemary in soup, thyme in a homemade sausage plait, chives in a salad, and we've made mint tea using a handful of home-grown mint leaves, a tea strainer and hot water - super easy!

Whether you live surrounded by miles of beautiful countryside or whether you can see directly into your neighbours flat from your living room and hear the constant hum and guffaw and exhaust pipes , you can still create and enjoy a little bit of nature. I've grown very attached to my stone-slab "porch" and can't wait to enjoy our first apricot!