Growing up I never pegged myself for a gardener. My mom was, of course, and she was an enormously talented gardener. But probably one of the reasons she had such locally famous gardens was because she didn't let her too young daughter near them. (A few examples of my mom's talents can be found in past blog posts here and here.)
And still, to this day, I am not as dedicated to the art of gardening as Mom was. I have other things that interest me more than gardening, and those things are often easier to accomplish with three kids in tow.
Lack of talent or dedication aside, spring usually finds me outside cleaning up the few gardens I have. Mostly these days that has involved pulling vast amounts of weeds (I did not tend to my perennial flower border garden as I should have last summer-- shame, shame!). Yesterday, though, most of the weeds were finally gone-- hurrah!-- and I was able to move onto more exciting endeavors...
...like replacing a rose that didn't make it through the winter, adding some porchulaca as a ground cover and some cocoa bean shells to (hopefully!) stop, or at least slow, all the dreaded weeds. It smells like a chocolate factory outside my house right now, another benefit to my favorite type of mulch,
putting some favorite herbs into pots near the kitchen door (basil, dill, oregano, thyme, rosemary and tarragon),
replacing-- yet again-- some hollyhocks that have been eaten and replaced year after year for the past few years by some sort of critter and never take off. This year I splurged on a larger containers, I hope this helps ward off my hollyhock kidnappers(!),
and replacing plants that, for whatever weird reason, just disappeared or never came back (salvia pictured here).
But, of course, still lots of weeding to be done. The euonymus in the front has really taken off, and I love how the English boxwood shrubs look interspersed in there (they're new this spring) but I can't stand how big, ugly dandelions spring up in the euonymus and because the euonymus is nice and thick now it's practically impossible to pull the dandelions. So yes, the fun has begun, but lots of drudgery still left. I suspect that will remain true throughout the entire growing season.
Next up, the vegetable garden, which I'm already a few weeks behind on. My excuse? It has been unseasonably cold here for May, but still...
3 comments:
I think that there's a reason that gardeners tend to be OLD ... keeping young children (when you have them) alive and well is always a higher priority than tending to plants. My own gardening efforts in those early days were sporadic at best. If I were closer by I would take you in hand and make some "suggestions". But oh well -you will figure it all out. PS: I can't believe I have an amazing ROSE garden all of a sudden! I put them in the ONE place that (I finally figured out) has enough sun. Your mom would be impressed! She is surely smiling down on them.
Well, feel free to make any suggestions that might be needed as you see them. I always appreciate input from more seasoned gardeners!
Looks marvelous!
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