Midsummer isn’t the best time for planting, but it’s great for planning

The summer solstice is behind us: where did the year go? The next few weeks are still a good time to work out where your sunny spots actually are, and where they’re not. That helps when plotting everything you might want to do and grow in your garden. Last June I was desperate to peer at our future garden to figure this out.

We hadn’t exchanged contracts and my husband warned that the young people then renting might refuse me access on the grounds of being weird. Perhaps they would, but I still wanted to see where the sun fell. I’ve ended up looking at the garden more than working on it — a slow-burn love affair I’ve enjoyed.

The grass has grown long, we’ve trodden a desire path down the middle, I’ve hung a lot of laundry out here and spent time getting to know the place. Recently I’ve started to draw design plans on paper; none are ready for public consumption, but they let me play with ideas that I know will change.

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