The first lesson in thrift has got to be ‘Do Nothing’.

Our metal garden table was flaking and I thought about scrubbing and repainting it. My usual response is to over-engineer things. This time I didn’t, thank goodness. There are better things to do, and just look what Mother Nature did with it instead!

Yellow lichen on my garden table

This yellow lichen seems quite happy growing on the stone walls of Bath. You see it just about everywhere around here. There are an estimated 13,500 and 17,000 species of lichen in existence. I don’t want the job of counting them. They’re not really one organism anyway, but a partnership between a fungus and green algae (or sometimes a bacterium), a wonderful natural testament to the power of collaboration.  When our church tower was restored a couple of years ago, lichen experts got really excited because some rare species were found on it; the church is perched high on the skyline of Bath and so catches a better, cleaner class of air. I wonder if some of these unusual lichen might also be living on my walls and outdoor furniture down here in the less rarified, more polluted valley? Best leave well alone, just in case. I’m sure I can find something else to do.

One way to enjoy your lichen while it grows