The anticipation of getting our hands dirty out in the garden begins during the ides of March and it builds and builds until we're finally able to bring our grande plans to fruition. In Wisconsin, that's usually somewhere around mid-May. This year, the weather was pretty chilly so we postponed most of our work until Memorial Day weekend.
Every year, we vow that we won't start any big projects.
And every year... there's always something.
This year, we put in a small stone "patio" to house our grill, hose reel, and umbrella stand. Not bad for a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon, eh?
We also expanded the garden around our lilac bushes. My hope is that this will be the perfect location for our lovely lavendar plants... and a better location for my the scads of lamb's ear that I've managed to propagate.
Although I wasn't inspired to start seeds this spring, we did manage to plant a pretty decent vegetable garden. You'll see we three kinds of tomatoes in there, along with six varieties of peppers (2 sweet, 4 hot), lots of basil, some dill, and a few seedings of scallions, spinach, and kale.
I always forget how much work a garden entails. But, gardening teaches me good lessons. It reminds me that everything that's worth having takes a little bit of blood, sweat, and tears to bring around. Nothing in a garden performs well unless we're paying attention, so it's also a lesson in humility. If we don't stay on top of our game, the gardens suffer. So, we can't be selfish. And we can't rush things. We just have to be diligent and patient -- and the rewards will follow. I can actually say the same for the photos that go along with this post. Peef took the camera with him to Los Angeles this week... and the photos I need haven't been downloaded to the laptop yet. harumph! Rest assured, we'll get them posted when he gets back!
My favorite gardening reward?
A warm tomato, fresh off the vine in mid-July. Just what the doctor ordered.
What's yours?
2 comments:
I too love the gardening thing! My favorite reward is to pick the perfect pea pod snap it open and enjoy the sweet tender peas right there in the garden! Most never even make it in the house!
Sam and I got most of the veggie garden planted yesterday. (which is later for us than usual) Sam, Lily and I made an impromtu stop at the garden store the other day and bought what we thought we needed as far as plants and seeds for the garden. Wouldn't you know that we bought everything that we already had (in the seeds department) and didn't get anything of what was needed! So now we will have to make another trip and get the corn seeds (which was really ALL that we would have needed). But this way it gives me a chance to spread out the bill. :-) I tend to drop a large amount of cash at every visit to the garden store that I make! Ahhh, can't wait to buy the annuals! LOL
Happy planting! jo
ooh, snap peas. That's lovely too.
As far as dropping tons of cash when the gardening bug hits... I'm right there with you. You would die if you knew what I spent on herbs at the crazy herb sale!
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