Most of us know that this verse ends 'in misery and pain', particularly my mother's students who struggle* each year with the border dialect of Burns's poem To A Mouse. But as I am neither mouse nor man, nor GCSE student, my plan should, with some luck, go to plan.
It is easy to assume so anyway from the comfort of the couch. Things will get a lot more exciting once I am out in the garden actually doing stuff - and making mistakes - but for now list-writing and reading seem the summation of my armchair exercise. I was reminded of this verse whilst dipping into the 5th scene Of Mice and Men this morn. It is a book I know well and admire greatly for its narrow framework and carefully detailed settings. Steinbeck has the ability to tell a story both economically and dramatically - not one of those 'why use one word when I can use twenty' types. It is also a text that insists on its artistry - and why not. My novel will too.
Tight design should equally apply to my future garden, although I am not sure that re-reading Curley's wife's rambling monologue will get me there. It is a good confession though, full of blighted dreams. What I should be reading is John Brookes's Garden Design Workbook. It offers a step-by-step guide to the design principles of creating the fantasy garden, beginning with a scale plan and ending with... success, I guess.
I am adding to this list of items my father's fabric tape and lots of tracing paper. The tape measures up to 30m. You can follow my first steps here.
*My mother has just read this post and has asked me to add that her students don't actually struggle.
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