Growing my own veggie green

We have the back green and it is owned by the block. And that’s eleven flats. Emm, and there are two main door flats that’s both got doors from their kitchens out into the back green. And then the other flats access the back green from a door that comes from the common stair. Em, six of the flats upstairs look out onto the back garden. but three stream of flats only look at the front. So they don’t actually look out into to back garden although everybody is seen to own the common. Like the common stair is seen to be owned by everybody.

The back garden is seen to be owned by every body. But it is not clear, you see, for those of us who live on the ground floor: is it commonly owned right up to our windows? Because there was a complaint from my neighbour upstairs. One of the things she said was because I have put my plant pots outside my house no body else could sit there. But, I don’t want people sitting outside my bedroom window. one of the reasons I bought the flat was because I love the access to the garden. I think the other downstairs neighbour did do some work in the garden. So we got into a set of routine of taking turns in cutting the grass. And they have the cupboard under the stairs because you could keep a lawn mower there, and we use to share the key. And when they moved, I came to an arrangement with the next neighbours that because this transferring the key was problematic that they would cut the grass and I did everything else. So I maintain all the shrubs and hedges, the borders and the edges of the grass. And then over the years I have slowly moved just from planting stuff in the flower bed that was right next to me to planting in the next flower bed. And to also moving things into other patches in the garden. So really overseeing the whole garden on my own. I maintain it so that people can use it. I have dug out some of the flower beds, but I haven’t dug it all out. If it were my garden, I wouldn’t hardly have any grass. But I have maintained the grass and also have an awareness of when people use the washing line, of how further washing would swing out, and so it wouldn’t gonna get caught on branches and things. I am aware then of also how it looks from the above, so I have hidden the compost bins and things.

Oh, no body thanks me. There is one woman who thanks me and another woman who’s been only there a couple of years. So it is only two people who thank me. Now, I had to pay a friend to cut the grass. So now I asked the neighbours for £25 for a year, from April to October to cut the grass. And this year, I have got money from three neighbours. On the other downstairs have refused and she is the only one who uses the garden. I mean she hangs the washing out nearly all the time. And I don’t really do the flower bed that is right next to their house. So I have planted a big bush and behind that is a piece of waste ground. In fact, even where the current bush is, was a piece of waste ground and I spent ages digging it out. So behind that now I grow vegetables. They are doing great! And the only thing is, that one woman planted one thing. And the upstairs neighbour, I went and asked for me for cutting the grass, but I did also asked if she could turn the TV down late at night. And then she said to me that I have got the cheek asking for money for cutting the grass because I treated the garden like my own garden. And that I have cut a patio out from my back door. Em, but I said to her that it does take me a bit of a time to cut the grass. And the electricity for the mower is my electricity. The reason for doing the bit around my window was to prevent people from hanging around my window. But I did do the rest of the garden. So in a way it looks like my garden. But, I did do it so that it looks nice for other people as well. I do it for the beauty, the aesthetics of it and because I grow my own vegetables. This saves me money and also I just like being outside.  Well, if I stop, all what will grow is weed.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.