WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT TO USE IT FOR?
In the following chapters I shall look more closely at some of the ways of actually using your garden as a Sacred Space, a space for working magic and celebrating the Sabbats; a place of contemplation and meditation, to grow herbs and other useful plants; a place dedicated to your favourite or personal deities; even a place where you can introduce your children to a love of nature. But you also need to take into account the non-Craft activities you enjoy. If you like sunbathing, then you will need an unshaded space to stretch out in. If you want to hold summer barbecues, then a place where you will not set fire to, or scorch, your plants is essential. If, like me, the winter wind howls across the landscape, then you will need to retain a windbreak hedge. To help you to plan the potential uses of your garden, write a month by month list of the sorts of things you want to do outside, the difficulties they pose and your ideas for solutions. You may find you come up with some difficulties to which you cannot think of an answer. Don’t despair, keep your list for a few months while you look around, watch TV gardening programmes and read books; it can be surprising how much inspiration the Goddess will provide to the patient.
HOW MUCH SPACE DO YOU HAVE?
If you have a reasonable-sized garden, that is well and good, but for those of you with little or no outdoors of your own, try to consider the following: Do you have room to securely fix one or more window boxes? Can you use indoor windowsills? Can you place a table or perhaps a bookcase in front of a window and use that space? If you have a light room, could you perhaps denote a corner or patch to be an indoor garden area? Perhaps you could even transform a gloomy corner. When it comes to the garden as a part of your Craft you do not need much – a reasonable-sized tub on a waterproof dish, or a couple of pots on your windowsill can easily be enough. Chapter 9 focuses on the non-existent, or almost non-existent, garden.
WHAT IS IT CURRENTLY BEING USED FOR?
One of the problems of a garden is that it quickly becomes a multifunctional area, often to the detriment of its garden aspect. Parked cars, secured bikes, children’s toys, washing lines, dustbins and so on all take from your natural space. Not that these things aren’t compatible with growing things and celebrating the Craft, but you may need to give some thought to maximizing your usable space. This could be as simple, if not always easy, as encouraging others to put their things away. On the other hand you might like to think about finding ways of storing things more sympathetically; hooks in a garage, or a storage ‘bin’ into which odds and ends can be packed. One of my somewhat unusual solutions lies in having a large second-hand filing cabinet in the garage. This stores, in a vertical rather than horizontal space, a wide miscellany of outdoor toys, gardening bits and things we have no use for, but are reluctant to get rid of yet! Some of the things you keep outside of the home cannot be put away, dustbins and coalbunkers for example, but they needn’t look quite so ugly. Consider planting climbers on, or in pots around, such items.
WHO ELSE USES IT?
Most of us have to share our garden in some way or another; perhaps with family members who may not practise the Craft, with children who want a play area or with pets who see it as an area of convenience! Not only that, but few of us have the luxury of complete privacy, as so many of today’s gardens are overlooked, or what takes place in them can be overheard. Whilst you can always attempt to place plants in such a way as to minimize this, you don’t want to end up with no natural light ever reaching your garden, or for that matter the windows of your home! Also give some thought to the safety aspect.
For example, ponds and toddlers, yours or visiting, don’t mix. But if you carefully fill your pond with large stones, you can still grow your water plants and keep the young ones safe. Steps, concrete or stone corners and other sharp edges are likewise a hazard to the very young, the very old and the infirm. If these features are already present, consider putting up guard rails, or other obvious identifiers. If you need them as part of your plan, think about rounded edges, or using wood instead.
HOW WILL YOUR ENVIRONMENT AND
CLIMATE AFFECT YOUR PLANS?
Soil type, weather, rainfall, drainage, pollution and so on should also be taken into account. The problems they pose are not insoluble, but give them some thought or you could end up expending a lot of energy counteracting a series of inherent conditions.
The type of soil you have will influence the kinds of plants which will grow in it. Of course you could strip off your topsoil and have it replaced, but that is somewhat extreme and not cheap! Dig a small hole about 8 inches deep and have a good look at what you’ve got. Too much clay and it will be heavy, hard to drain and may set like concrete in the Summer. Too much sand and it will drain freely and dry out quickly in hot weather. Both of these problems can be helped by digging in some organic matter. A friend of mine recently had several tons of ‘mature’ pig manure delivered free, by a farmer only too glad to get rid of it, but this is a bit extreme. Create your own quick compost by sweeping up Autumn leaves and storing them in bin liners until they get smelly. Dig this through and it will help no end. It is also a good idea to test the pH balance of the soil; you can get kits from your garden centre. If your soil is particularly acid or alkaline (chalky), try to choose plants which like these conditions, and grow others either in pots or in ‘wells’ which you have lined generously with potting compost.
Give some thought to local rainfall and the water table. If your 8-inch hole rapidly filled up with water, you’re probably in a damp zone! If in doubt, your local radio weather forecaster may be able to answer a patient enquiry, and you could ask them about hours of sunshine and average temperatures at the same time; alternatively, have a look on the Internet. Too little water is relatively easy to fix, as you can collect rainwater in a barrel and water regularly, but a damp climate will never suit plants which prefer to grow in the desert!
Spend a day tracking the amount of direct light falling onto your garden (it’s easier to do when the Sun is shining). This will tell you where best to plant sun-, or shade-, loving plants.
Take a look at the kinds of industry in your area, for about 5 miles around! If there’s anything that seems likely to produce pollution, seek out tolerant plants. Take a look at roadside growing areas around you, with a good field guide handy, for some really good clues. Also, talk to your neighbours or take a quick look over their fences, briefly to avoid embarrassment, and see what’s doing well there, to give you some ideas.
HOW WILL YOU AFFECT LOCAL WILDLIFE?
Please give a thought to local flora and fauna. Check out holes and tracks to see whether they are in use. A light dusting of cornflour will easily show up prints. Be considerate with weedkillers, insecticides, fertilizers, hedge trimmers and when digging up stuff. If you have huge amounts of weeds, or a thicket of brambles, they’re probably doing a good job of feeding birds, growing caterpillars and so on. Don’t remove