thrilled to have found the courage to make her fresh start. It was a great start to the day, in spite of the inclement weather, and the delicious pastries made it even better.
Nell, very sensibly, decided to stay in the office, when Chloe and I pulled on our wet-weather gear and, full of carbs and good, strong coffee, reluctantly ventured out.
‘I’ll be glad when the glasshouse is restored,’ Chloe sighed after I had filled her in on Luke’s plan, ‘and we can work somewhere dry on days like this.’
‘I couldn’t agree more,’ I told her.
‘I’ll happily second that,’ said Graham, walking up to join us.
I might have said to Lisa that I enjoyed working outdoors, but there were limits. There was so much moisture in the air that morning that, although it wasn’t raining, we would have been soaked through within minutes, had we forgotten our waterproofs. I knew we could have stayed in the office and cleaned and oiled the hand tools, but I was saving that task for when winter really bit.
‘Are you still happy to have a go at fixing the ride-on?’ I asked Graham.
Having looked at the forecast together yesterday, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad use of his time. He’d already told me he’d got some mechanical experience and if we could get the mower working, then Luke wouldn’t have to keep calling in a contractor.
‘Gladly,’ he grinned, ducking into the shed.
‘And don’t worry,’ I said to Chloe, before loading tools and buckets into the wheelbarrow, ‘what I’ve got lined up for us should protect us from the worst of it.’
We spent the morning in what had fast become one of my favourite spots in the garden. The fern garden was a secretive little place located next to the boundary wall, surrounded by established shrubs and trees and entered via a weather-worn brick arch. It was an original, but slightly scaled-down, garden feature, and in spite of its city location, had a very otherworldly feel.
‘This place is going to be even better with some of Finn’s dragon sculptures dotted around for people to find, isn’t it?’ commented Chloe as she followed my lead when I started to cut back the huge hosta plants which thrived in the shady, damp conditions.
‘Yes,’ I agreed, ‘this is an ideal spot for a treasure hunt.’
I focused on the job in hand and refused to allow my mind to become too distracted by fantasies of exploring this secret place on heady, summer evenings with Finn. I was supposed to be cross with him after all.
‘Not the ferns,’ I said as I came to and spotted Chloe starting to make inroads into trimming those too. ‘We’ll leave those until the spring,’ I added, brushing thoughts of Finn more firmly away. ‘It’s the hostas we need to focus on because they’ll harbour slugs and snails over the winter and that’s the last thing we want.’
Luke had given me a comprehensive planting plan for this part of the garden and as well as my particular favourites which included ferns, Japanese anemones, cyclamens, bluebells and hellebores, there were many other lovely species and even two tall tree ferns which he had planted himself.
‘And what are we supposed to do with these?’ Chloe asked, once we had worked our way along to where they stood. ‘It was quite mild here last winter,’ she told me, ‘so Luke just left them, but aren’t you supposed to protect them somehow? They look pretty fragile to me.’
I’d never looked after tree ferns before, but had read up about them online.
‘They’re hardier than you might think,’ I said, ‘but they do need a bit of cosseting if there’s a really cold snap. According to what I’ve read, you pack the top with straw, to protect the crown and then fold last year’s leaves over the top and secure it all with twine. They’re pretty sheltered in here, but if the temperature drops too much, we’ll definitely need to do that.’
The weather hadn’t cleared at all throughout the morning and it was still grim after lunch. Graham had signed off at our arranged time, but left a note in the office saying he thought he’d found the problem and was going to read up about how to fix it. That lifted my sagging spirits a little, but by three o’clock, what light there was, was fading and I’d had enough.
‘Let’s call it a day,’ I said to Chloe, who had started to shiver.
‘But it’s only three,’ she said, her