In my garden. (The pleasures Of Sharing Your Garden).(Brief Article)

As a keen participant in the Open Gardens Scheme, I must say that my own garden is quite literally a showpiece at this time of the year. It is good to hear the appreciative oohs and aahs from members of the public as they walk among my lovely beds. Of course there is a lot of wear and tear, but to minimise this I make sure our visitors' ramblings are confined to the gravelled walks. Anyone who strays onto a lawn risks stepping into one of the rabbit traps I have had placed in little hollows concealed beneath grass clippings, and then the comments are less appreciative, I can tell you.

The Open Gardens Scheme makes money for some very worthy charities but it was making absolutely nothing for me. In my view this was rather unfair on the person who actually foots the bill to keep the garden going. I know the good work one is supporting and the pleasure one is giving the public in sharing one's garden are their own reward, but try taking that to the bank! Of course, it would be quite improper to ransack the charity tin--and visitors being as stingy as they are, there's never enough in that to be worth compromising oneself for anyway. So I decided that the best way of helping myself would be to elicit an additional and more substantial payment from each visitor. Here is my method--perhaps if you open your own garden you might care to try it yourself.

First, build a pretty little gazebo beside the exit to your garden, which should be as far away as possible from the entrance but adjacent to where visitors park their cars. You can get prefabricated gazebos very reasonably these days from any garden ornaments supplier, or if you're handy you can run one up yourself with trellis. Grow some pretty wisteria or a climber over it to make sure no one can see inside, then line the walls with soundproofing.

The next step is to engage the services, as economically as possible to keep overheads down, of some willing but dim individual who likes the company of savage dogs. I found mine, Trevor, at the local kennel club and he has been a sterling asset. The rest is simple. As your visitors are ...