Category: Gardening

“You need to start getting out more,” my mum said.

What she didn’t realise was that I didn’t want to go out more. In fact, I didn’t want to go out at all. If I had the freedom to be able to sit inside each day and avoid the outdoors and other people, that would be my absolute dream. Of course, that’s not realistic. We still need to leave the house to get necessities like food. I could probably make a choice to order food here on in, or have grocery deliveries to my house, but that can get costly and I don’t want anyone else handling my food. I guess it’s a bit of a catch twenty-two.

“You used to be such an outdoorsy sort of girl, what happened?” Mum iterated.

Her words sat with me because the truth is – I don’t know what happened. I used to love getting out and about but one day that suddenly changed for me. I became a recluse. The more I started thinking about it, I realised I was letting my life rot away right before me. I needed to find a way to get myself out of the home. Gardening was the answer. I decided to buy hybrid tea roses online. Australia is a place so full of sun, it is perfect for growing plants and flowers. 

I’m glad I could order my flowers online. If I had to leave the house to buy them, I probably would have never gotten around to it. Growing my hybrid tea roses has been such a rewarding experience. They’ve added lots of colour into my life not only in my garden, but also metaphorically. I now have something that gets me outdoors. It’s absolutely life changing. I think I’d like to get some ground cover roses next. There are some patches in my mum’s garden that I think would really benefit. 

My mum seems to be a lot happier now too. We were clashing a lot for a while, mainly because she wanted to help me but couldn’t.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I slumped through the doorway of our cramped staff kitchen and threw my hard hat onto the cheap, plastic table.

         ‘Having a hard morning, Ronnie?’ Shelly laughed at me from the sink.

         ‘Something like that,’ I groaned, dropping into a chair. ‘Can you believe the work they’re making us do out there?’

         ‘I’m in accounts,’ she said, dropping a teabag into her mug. ‘I haven’t got the first clue what they’re making you do out there.’

         ‘Dig!’ I said loudly, and she laughed. ‘Just constantly dig!’

         ‘Dig for what?’

         ‘I actually don’t know that either,’ I said. ‘I just get here at too-early o’clock, pick up my shovel and go where the foreman points me.’

         ‘Maybe you’re planting flowers,’ she joked. ‘You could be propping up the online flower industry.’

         ‘What?’ I frowned at her. ‘Everybody knows you have to go into a store for that.’

         ‘Tell me,’ she said, sipping at her tea. ‘Is your phone still connected to your wall?’

         ‘What does my phone have to do with—’

         ‘A store isn’t where to find standard roses for sale anymore,’ she laughed. ‘It’s all on the internet!’

         ‘Well,’ I said gruffly, ‘that’s just ridiculous. How are you supposed to smell the flowers, gently run your hand down the stem to check that it’s in good condition?’

         ‘I have no idea,’ Shelly admitted. ‘I think that they might just sell good quality flowers online.’

         ‘That would solve it,’ I rolled my eyes. ‘Say, you got another one of those teabags handy?’

         She nodded and began to make me a cup of tea.

         ‘You don’t gotta do that—’ I started.

         ‘Ah, relax,’ she waved for me to sit back down. ‘The longer I’m in here, the less time I have to spend with my manager telling me about how you can buy roses seeds online.’

         ‘Isn’t that what we’re talking about in here?’

         She froze, teabag hovering in mid-air above the mug.

         ‘Oh, god,’ she whispered. ‘I’ve been here too long.’