Let there be light...

Over the years I've had lots of solar lights. Of course, they don't give out much light, but at least the light they do give out is free and they can create an ambiance in the garden. After saying that I've always been a little disappointed in the lights I've bought, so much so that I'd almost given up on them.

But then I had an idea. Just why I hadn't thought of this before is beyond me, it's so simple but it makes even the cheapest solar lights look great.

The problem with solar lights, especially the cheap ones, is that they are all so short that they are hardly off the ground at all and you have to look down at them. There's no drama in that, drama is created by constantly keeping the eye moving from one place, and from one level, to the next (yes, I know how pretentious that sounds, but it's true).

My idea was to raise the lights up so that they could be arranged in my plants at a level that created a little drama and suited the plant they were lighting. I bought three thin solar lights from Wilkinson's for eighty-five pence each, threw away the black plastic stake at the bottom of the tubular stem, and instead rammed a cane in. This meant that I could position the lights inside my bamboo at any level I liked and give the garden a nighttime boost. It worked pretty well and the lights were still shining when I went to bed way past midnight.

I like the idea so much that I'm going to buy twenty more lights (seventeen quid) and do the same thing within the rest of my garden. I think it'll create quite an effect.