Saturday, February 19, 2011

Wonderful Gardening Day

Today was an amazing gardening day.  On Thursday, it snowed lightly, then yesterday and today, we have had amazing weather - crisp but sunny, and clear blue skies.  Since my son is sick with a cold, we kept him home from soccer at noon today, and I went out in the garden instead, wearing a tank top and shorts, to get as much Vitamin D as possible.  I'm sure I'm terribly deficient, and have also had a sore throat and cough the past couple of days.

Fairy garden
First I managed to squeeze in one hour, since my husband offered to make lunch.  Then in the afternoon, he wanted to enjoy the weather by going for a walk in the park, but I begged him to let me stay home in the garden instead.  So he ended up taking my daughter for a bicycle ride, while my son spent 2 hours in the garden.  I pulled lots of weeds, removed old flower stalks, trimmed back my grape vines to visible growth buds, and fought for a long time with the butterfly bush.  My son was a great help to me.  I chopped and pulled large branches down (it is over 10' tall), and he chopped up the branches for me.  I keep many of the straight segments of the branches I cut down.  That's what I used to build the fairy house years ago, for the fairy garden (photo on right from last summer), and I'm sure I'll find lots of uses for them in the garden, staking plants, etc.

It was not windy, so warm enough to continue to work in my tank top and shorts in the afternoon, as long as I stayed in the sun.  In the shady spots, there was still a light covering of snow on the ground.  By 4PM, it started to get windy and cooler, so I finally gave up.  It was only after I got inside that I realized how exhausted I was, and was glad that I had finally come inside.  But I think those hours to relax and soak up sun has already helped.  I am tired tonight, but my throat is no longer sore.

I feel sorry for my friends and neighbours who think of gardening as a chore.  Or my husband, who thinks that when the weather is nice, he needs to go away somewhere else.  When I am in my garden, working hard, it is one of the few times that I am completely at peace.  There is lots to do, but if I can't finish it all today (ha ha!), then it will patiently wait for me.  I often think of tunes or amuse myself with what I would like to blog about, but my head is not racing with problems from work, or other issues.  Even when I am trying to sleep, I am not at peace in that same way.  I often wake up in the morning trying to solve problems, or making notes to myself of all the "to do's" I need to accomplish.  If there is gardening in heaven, for sure I'll be there.

I have been trying out my Cobrahead Weeder and Cultivator recently, and have been very impressed with it.  I would like to say more about it some time, but it's getting too late.  I'll visit my husband at the TV for a bit, and then go to bed.

5 comments:

  1. I look forward to following your blog this year while gardening. I managed to get a little done the last couple days also.
    Cher
    Goldenray Yorkies

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  2. This is incredibly beautiful. Thank you for sharing!!!

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  3. Glad you had some time to yourself to get things done. Like you, I consider my garden a peaceful haven from worry.

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  4. Your garden is lovely - and the fairy house is just too sweet!

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  5. Sounds like it was a perfect day. I love that fairy house, what a great idea. Wish I would've saved my butterfly branches.
    I know what you mean about preferring to stay home in the garden when it's nice and losing myself there. So relaxing.

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