Lyr Add: Garden Waste by Les Barker

Subject: Lyr Add: Garden Waste by Les Barker
From: Monologue John
Date: 15 Apr 24 - 03:45 PM

Garden Waste (Les Barker)


I’d never had a garden,
So I smiled all summer; watched it grow.
Flowers came and flowers went,
With gifts of colour, shape and scent.

And as I watched the seasons turn,
I knew I had a lot to learn.
One thought in my young head was placed;
One must not waste one’s garden waste.

And so I bought a compost bin,
And put my garden waste therein,
In hopes in time it would decay,
And so it proved one spring day.

I spread it on my garden so
The mulch would help my garden grow.
And so it proved, for very soon,
I found I had to cut and prune.

I cut and pruned and hacked and mowed,
It seemed I had more than I’d sowed!
Still June, it seems impossible;
My compost bin’s already full.

I bought a second compost bin,
And put my garden waste therein,
In hopes in time it would decay,
And so it proved one autumn day.

I spread it on my garden, those two bin fulls;
How my garden grows!
And grow it did, for very soon,
I found I had to cut and prune.

The garden waste that I had used,
Made richer soil which thus produced more garden waste.
What can I do?
I filled in one,
I filled in two.

I bought a third compost bin,
And put my garden waste therein,
In hopes in time it would decay,
And so it did one April day.

Bed and lawn, I mulched them both,
And watched in fear for signs of growth.
And grow it did, for very soon,
I found I had to cut and prune….
….And hack and strim and mow and chop,
Another bloody bumper crop!

A vintage year for garden waste,
And soon the problem must be faced.
I make a start: I fill bins one and two and three,
The work goes on!
For I have cut and gathered in,
Enough to fill another bin!

I went and bought bin number four.
I’ll not do this any more….
I go out every evening late;
I sneak out through my garden gate,

I lay my treasure down instead,
On someone else’s flowerbed.
And having thus enriched their loam,
I steal their slugs and take them home.

I see their gardens, how they grow!
I look at mine and does it? No.
I watch them toil, I watch them weep………
………..I close my eyes and go to sleep.