I took a break today from lying down (2nd day in a row spent mostly in bed due to migraine + asthma). With Tom’s help I was able to spend a couple of hours doing light – EXTREMELY LIGHT – yard work – planting tulips, trimming back/removing old, damaged, and dead branches, and enjoying the sunlight.
Spring isn’t quite here (yet), but it’s so close.
The rose in the back has two-inch leaf sprouts. The daffodils in the back are starting to bloom. Slugs got to the pink hyacinths, but there were enough blossoms left that they were identifiable.
But, even though the bulbs in the back have bloomed, the ones in front (with a single exception) don’t appear to have any inkling that their heyday is nigh. They’ll be a little later waking from their nap.
Birds and other critters are constantly darting back and forth, gathering nesting materials, chattering, defending territories. This year, we remembered to take down the wreath by the front door BEFORE the juncos decided it was a lovely spot for a maternity home…
Two weeks until my spring break, and I have plans and aspirations for that week of rest. Garden plans. House plans. Sewing plans.
But today, what’s in the garden was ideal. A multitude of small projects, easily and reasonably deferred if necessary. And of course, many of them needed deferral: weeding around the small patio in front, pruning a few more branches on trees, thinning, arranging, leveling…
Discovered that one of the thornless blackberries had root-tipped into a planter, so now we have 5 + 1 plants!
We thrilled to see that most of the iris we transplanted had survived, and that two dianthus and two snapdragons that had been near the parking pad also survived. Less thrilled to see the mess left behind by one of the burrowing visitors around the pond. Delighted to see the red squirrel at the feeders again. And under the feeders. And watching the feeders from the trees.
It was time to reconnect with the land, the energy of nature, and with Tom.
Wally, of course, patrolled the area under the bitter cherries and vanquished a couple of sticks.
What’s in the garden? Enough entertainment, work, and peace for an anxious age.
I wish everyone had a garden.