Don’t mention the ‘sleep’ word
We’d dug the hole and our small helper, aged almost two, had dropped in the daffodil bulbs. Pushing the earth back to cover them over, I smiled and said: “the daffodil bulbs are going to sleep and we’ll see their bright yellow flowers in the Spring”. The small helper began to sob. Turns out that the ‘SLEEP word’ is a bit of a trigger for him right now. A quick rethink was required. “The daffodil bulbs are hiding and we’ll see the bright yellow flowers in the Spring”.
A daffodil bulb getting ready to hide!
His smiles returned and he pottered around the Museum of Homelessness garden with his mum and grandmother, planting more bulbs, repeating the hiding mantra and the words: “yellow flowers”! I think they had only popped in to take a look at the garden but it was lovely the way that this family became part of the team and they said it was much more fun than the swings. There is something so beautiful about spending a sunny day with your hands in the soil, I do hope small helper will come back to see the results.
Daffodils have been on my mind a lot recently. I am working on two plant stories featuring this flower which is so beloved and a herald of Spring. The stories will take us to Holland, America, Pakistan and the UK and though the tales are very different, they both feature daffodils given as a gift.
In the MOH garden we seem to have been planting these bulbs for several weeks and yet the basket of bulbs waiting to be planted still seems to be full! I remember Jess saying that they planted many in their first year in the garden and she recalled how important they were, as a sign of hope at the end of a long, dark winter which must seem so much longer when you don’t have a home.
I have written before about the importance of green spaces in urban areas and this week I published a new episode about the Castlefield Viaduct in Manchester. This urban park is a National Trust project and my guide, Kate Picker, reminded me that access to green spaces was a key principle of the charity’s founders. You can read the episode page about the Viaduct here. It was fascinating to hear about the process of turning this abandoned space into a sky garden. Apparently they too planted many bulbs in the first year, only to discover that they got eaten by rats! If you haven’t heard this audio walk then you can listen below.
This week I have also been editing the interview I recorded with Simon Pitkeathley, the Chief Executive of the Camden Highline. You can’t yet get onto this proposed Highline which hopes to join up Camden Town and Kings Cross but you can walk the route along the roads, gazing up at the disused railway bridges where one day there will be planters and people.
Editing both of these episodes has made me realise that the joy of making a podcast is that you can revisit places and stories without needing to resell the idea to the radio network. I believe these are both very exciting and important urban projects and it would be fascinating to visit them again in 12 months time and track the progress. So watch this space, I hope this is just the beginning of the journey of telling these stories.
Have a lovely weekend
Sally
x