My home and garden have been the birthplace of many developments which have entered the public domain. And the garden is littered with what many would call junk or at best ageing demonstrations! I call it treasure.

It serves to remind me of the supreme effort one placed, over the years, to develop many things which, in some cases, are now commonplace in certain parts of the world. I have long called my back-yard my garden laboratory where simple development work has been carried out quietly and out of the public eye.

It’s my refuge. The place I find most comfortable. If ideas come by chance, one can don one's boots and rather simple attire and enter the realm of the garden wonderland and try out ideas, quietly and secretly testing and changing and adapting until one approaches something that can be tried out in the world just beyond.

In this secret garden some ideas blossom like the flowers of the pumpkin, some hit hazards and drop to the ground and die to be abandoned. Others can be rescued. One can never judge at the beginning. But I have learned that failure can be part of success, as in the end, ideas develop in response to the search for an answer to a problem – and it is the search which can bear fruit and even find treasure.

Downloadable resources:

My Garden Laboratory 2020. Complete book

Toilet and Water Demonstrations in the Back Yard. Report

© 2022 Dr Peter Morgan