It’ll be alright on the night

Last week, East Yard at the Harbour Arm still looked, frankly, a lot  like a junk yard - and I wrote that transformation needed to start in earnest. Now, after a hive of activity, East Yard is really beginning to look like an interesting shingle garden. So maybe it will be alright on the night.

I’m reminded of Henslowe, the hapless theatre owner in the film, Shakespeare in Love. When asked what should be done in the face of apparently disastrous events, he replies, ‘Nothing, strangely enough, it all turns out well.’ But how? ‘I don’t know. It’s a mystery.’

 

There was no mystery to the dedicated application and sheer hard work of the entire volunteer garden group on Monday evening, inspired as ever by Diane’s unerringly positive vision. And yet, there was no denying that a sort of mysterious alchemy took hold as we pulled on our trusty gardening gloves to heave trolleys, carry buckets and weild spades.

 

As one, we spread shingle around existing plants, filled a new bed, brought specimens from the nursery to go on display in the most appealing and informative way and positioned our found objects as structure. 

 

Some power of nature seemed to guide Wendy’s team to ease the plants into their new homes. Some magical inspiration seemed to guide our team to position weathered woden uprights as sculptural incidents and rusted railway bolts as ground patterns. We even found an ancient nautical lamp to use as a colourful maritime ornament. 

Apparent impossibilities were overcome as the air seemed to crackle with inspiration and creative collaboration.

 

 

 As dusk fell, we all remarked on how satisfying and enjoyable the evening had been, not least the sense of camaraderie. The Harbour Garden project is teamwork at its best. We’ve all learned a lot and we all feel a great sense of achievement. And I’ve just spotted a headline saying ‘The science is in: Gardening is Good for You’. 

Tweaking continues this week as we build towards curtain up on Friday. Watch this space for photos that reveal the garden ready for Friday’s event. The talk for the SALT festival is at noon in East Yard on 30^th September, close to the Harbour Arm entrance from the car park. Diane will be there and garden expert Frances Tophill, along with many of our volunteer team. Tickets from Quarterhouse.