NEW BEGINNINGS

My garden underwent a massive hard pruning and tidying last week.

It was getting to be an eyesore. To add insult to injury, a friend who had not visited for sometime, commented that it looked more like a jungle from JUMANJI! (the movie). I just don't understand, the garden looks great in photos! In fact my daughter tells me that pics of her in my garden would get her friends to ask which resort or retreat she was at!

However the remark my friend made was the straw that broke the camel's back and I went on a rampage...with a lot of help from Babang...my vacationing nephew who practically owes me his first one year pay for all the favours I've done him. And of course the promise of some monetary reward to help finance his upcoming road trip with his school friends got me a very willing and very obedient mat bangla to order around as I please.

The garden took the brunt of whatever pent up emotions I had boiling in me. I can hardly call it writer's block (I'm not even a decent writer) and the weeks of feeling under the weather wasn't going away anytime soon. One day I just woke up and felt the need to rejuvenate!

First went all the small pots. Save the plants which were worth saving, re-pot in bigger pots with new earth, add in some humus and soil conditioner, Walla! good as new! I hope to see, in a few weeks time, what difference all the back breaking exercise did. At one time I was so hung up on anything small and cute; small plants, small pots, small knick knacks. Suddenly I felt it was all clutter and had to rid myself of everything small. So now I'm into big plants and big pots phase of my gardening life.

Next went everything of which I had more than 3. Choose the plants carefully, throw the rest! Brutal, yes! But they would be better off as humus than potted miseries.

Then, it was re positioning the pots. Some plants which prefer shade had been left to shield itself from the scorching sun, and some which prefers sunbathing all day all season had been left in the shade.

All that done, I had to seriously think what else I should get rid of so that I'm left with a low maintenance garden. The durian tree which has not borne any fruits thus far has been given fair warning for the past 3 years, to no avail! Yet, when it comes to crunch time, I just can't help feeling..yes...just 1 more year, I'll wait 1 more year. So that means having to slave over it's shedding leaves for another 365 days! And the leaves are so small, like ikan sepat!

That meant getting rid of the fast growing Ridani or Rangoon Creeper. Cut back real short and hope I remember to keep it trimmed every month so that it won't grow wild all over my prized bunga pisang! ( I don't know what the scientific or common name is, but my mother tells me that's what it is called cos the flowers, if you can call them flowers, really smell like bananas!)

The debris left behind after the exercise was a huge mount about 5 feet high! So far I have had no revelation on how to clear this! My resident biologist who is back for holidays has given stern warning on the effects of open burning on global warning. And I'm not too keen on leaving my carbon footprints when world leaders have failed to decide on how best to handle this issue at Copenhagen. Besides the smoke would play havoc on my asthma.

So, for now, my heavily pruned garden is still messy with the debris. Wish David (Blaine/ Copperfield) was here to spoof it all away!

But, sitting down on my antique garden swing and admiring the view, I'm proud of my efforts. It's a new year and time for new beginnings. I must not be afraid to reduce my clutter, just so it would be easier to maintain in the future.

I bought a book on this...and it says anything you haven't touched or used in the last 6 months maybe categorised as excess baggage you need to shed.

DARE I?