I spent a couple hours in the garden this afternoon, mostly raking up leaves from last autumn that were left when the snows "surprised" me and I ended up not doing it at all. Not ideal for the lawn, but our lawn in that area is pretty terrible anyway and is mostly a mix of different kinds of groundcovers I cut regularly in the summer so they look grass-ish. I also cut-back some of the various plants of their now dry and dead growth from last year, hoping that they will return this year. It is a bit early to know for sure, but I think I saw some with a bit of new growth on it.
This is the first year after planting.
Every other year we have lived in this house, we have pretty much known what is going to come back to life in the spring, because it has been here for years. Last spring I planted quite a few new plants and while they grew adequately through the summer, I don't know if they will have made it through the winter. If not, I guess it is back to the drawing board. One thing I have realised for one of the gardens though, is it needs something in there to give it some height when nothing has grown yet, so this year (in the fall) I might throw in a couple diamond thujas to balance with the other few we planted last year.
With money tight at the moment since I am not working anywhere near enough, the garden changes are going to be kept to a minimum and instead it will be about clean-up and maintenance. Last year we also put in a deck with the idea that we would continue the other half of it this year, but that is on hiatus also, since it is quite expensive to do what we need to do, including preparing the ground. Still, I am hoping that my time in the garden can be used well and I can move it along the maturity scale a little, even if not much can be added to it. And hopefully this year in the fall, I won't forget to sink tulip bulbs into the ground like I forgot to do last year.
No tulips this spring.
I must be getting old, because I quite enjoy pottering around the garden, even when nothing much is happening. My wife isn't old enough yet, because she only goes out when she has to do something, or to sit and have a cup of tea. I go out regardless of whether I have something to do or not. I will become one of those old men who will stand at the window, looking at the grass. Well, whatever is there that is currently passing for grass anyway.
What I think I will try to do this summer is to have a schedule of things to do, like a task list so that I don't really have to think that much about what I am going to do, but can just work through the list at my own pace. If things get done or not it might not matter, but each year I miss a lot of things that I wanted to do, just because I didn't remember to do them. And because the seasons dictate some tasks, once missed, it is a full year of waiting for the next opportunity.
Like plant carrots.
That one isn't for me, it is for Smallsteps. We had talked about it last spring, but I forgot. By the time I remembered, it was far too late, so this year I want to ensure that she at least has somewhere she can put a few carrot seeds (is that how carrots grow) in the ground and get something orange-y from them. And hopefully some of our herbs come back, and the strawberries.
Writing about it makes me want to go and do a little bit of research on what I need to do and what I should have done, but didn't know about. Since it isn't my forte area, I have to be curious enough to keep on increasing my learning and since I am usually a trial and error kind of person, I have to break my normal routines and learn from others - otherwise by the time I get it right, I will be too old to even stand at the window and stare at the grass.
Taraz
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