Raspberry canes

Ten bare sticks lie
across my hand
in my mind’s eye
already stand:
slim green towers,
leaves and flowers.
Ten magic wands

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I’ve buried my hens and planted four varieties of raspberries above them – chilcotin, autumn bliss, heritage and golden yellow.

I think you have to be a relentless optimist to be a gardener. “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall” and the reason is that it wants to eat everything behind it, and what it is, is bloody well nearly everything – foxes, pigs, kangaroos, cockatoos, rabbits, possums, rosellas… Having visions (hallucinations?) of verdant foliage and enough berries to make you ill is a prerequisite for putting up another fence and hanging more netting.