March 20, 2009
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Seedy, Weedy, Indeedy
Last night I was wondering why I never seem to update my Xanga. Surely my life isn’t any less thrilling than it was last year? (Okay, that’s a lie. Being in a foreign country gives everything a certain panache.) I suspected with fewer Xanga entries, my handwritten journal entries would have increased. Not true. Am I visiting more with friends in person or via email to share bits of my day? Um, no.
(And this first paragraph is probably a sign of why I am not writing more. I’ve turned dull.)
Wednesday, I got the gardening bug and planted innumerable seeds into 240 peat pots in mini-greenhouses. Of course, it is far, far too early to think of planting anything outside in PA. (It did snow this morning after all.) But, one must heed the siren call of dirt.
The funny thing about me and gardening is how quickly I grow weary of it. I start out with hundreds of flower seedlings to transplant into my insanely-long garden.
The insanely long garden, two levels, with Little Miss
After about 100 plants, I don’t care anymore and start tossing them willy-nilly. I’m good about weeding in May and June, and about July 4th, the weeds become independent and take over the garden. So, by mid-August, just when the garden should be at its glory, I’ve got an impressive showing of crabgrass and prickly lettuce and other odd weeds. (In defense of those weeds, some of them blossom, so I just call them “volunteer wildflowers.”)
This year, the garden needs major work. When we moved in, it looked great. There was 10 year weed matting covered with mulch. Now, the 10 years for the matting are over and the mulch is just dirt. Ripping out the weed matting, getting rid of dead bushes, planting perennials, rematting, mulching, and more are what we get to do this summer.
Oh, joy.
I am thinking this might be a job for a professional. Yeah! That’s it! Now, to find someone who might want to work in exchange for 240 seedlings…
The little darlings–spring is on its way!
Comments (17)
They are darling!
Here are some volunteer wildflowers . . .
That is a big project! I thought I had a lot of seeds and seedlings to plant to cover my areas- but your garden area is huge! Good luck with it.
Gardening is like scrapbooking to me. I don’t understand it and I don’t want to try it, but I can appreciate the results of others’ efforts. Maybe if you put on that lovely hat of yours, the one that looks like Jane Austen on a walk, you would feel more motivated?
I’m with you!
You sound like me with my gardening adventures! lol That is why we decided to put down the weedpaper & cover with riverstones & I do containers. I can weed containers easily. Much less daunting a task. Our daffodils are not anywhere near appearance yet up here.
ha ha! i like the part about volunteer wildflowers. i need to share that with one of my friends- she’ll appreciate the joke!
This reminds me of the day you returned from your San Antonio trip and we were house-sitting/living with you, the first thing you did upon returning home is start pulling weeds…I can still hear your boys comments in the back of my mind, funny huh!
Thanks for the poem so much! I’ll have to look one up to share with you. Your garden truly is insanely long. Do you have multiple acres of yard? It looks like you live in a very nice neighborhood.
I have been resisiting the siren call of dirt, I usually wait too long to transplant because of the weather so I am doing my seedlings a little later.
I have the same weeding history. I know it is heat that messes up our weeding schedule. I think we are on a similar schedule for gardens, my daffodils are at the same place as yours.
You are not dull. I like hearing from you.
That’s a pretty ambitious plan. I can see why you start to drag by July. That’s about when it happens to me although I haven’t really tried to grow anything in several years.
You know, I have noticed that I have really slowed down in my blogging entries as well. I am not quite sure why but I am trying, slowly, to get back into the habit again. It really does help me focus and decide what is what and which way is up, lol.
Love the pictures. I need/want to get in my flower garden but haven’t made much progress in the department…but you are inspiring me!
Any orphaned seedlings would have a good home here, but i do not have much of a green thumb.
I am SO not a gardener! I LOL at this one!
That is a loooonnnnngggg garden indeed.
BTW, if you want to hire someone – I could send you my son who lives up there. Seriously. He’s done mucho landscaping…..let me know if you get desperate!
@i_was_there_and_back_again -
Thanks for the offer. If my husband and boys help me with it, it should be okay. But, if I wind up having to do it myself…well, then, someone is going to have to help!
I am happy to assist, and will do so inexpensively.
Love that first photo. Love spring bulb flowers. I’m so not into gardening…dirt, bugs, etc. yuck. But I understand how therapeutic it is for people.