Oh Dearhearts…
The last 3 days I have been planning a BIG blog post for you. I have taken countless pictures but I just couldn’t seem to come in from the garden to do it! And then, having worked from morning till night, and having missed the last 2 day’s blog posts, I decided if I didn’t do anything else I was going to get that blog post written. And I sat down at my desk with my coffee at 8:30 and did everything BUT the blog post. I printed out a massive garden map, 23 pages that I was going to tape together, side by side but it would have been too big. A few days ago I went out to the garden in front and literally inched my way from one end of the garden to the other taking pictures every few feet in every direction. Now they are all printed out and I will be drawing and writing all over them. What is in the ground as the year starts, what I’m putting in this year, bulbs, plants, mostly seeds, and I will take pictures and make videos of the garden as it grows. It is a huge and exciting project and I just couldn’t take my eyes off of it and I was dreaming garden dreams and thinking about the millions of plants and bulbs I’d love to plant if I won the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes (I’m always hoping and believing one day I surely will!) and all of a sudden it was 12:30 and … I … crashed!
I don’t know what happened to me other than that I have been working so hard, such long days, it caught up with me. I made lunch for Molly and I and then curled up with my wee girl in our big recliner and started watching my current Netflix series and … fell … asleep …
I had so much that I wanted and needed to do but my body just said, ahem, no, and I literally slept until 5:30 p.m. Well, I guess I needed it.
I have undertaken so many projects and I want to share all of that with you so I will be working on the blog post over the weekend that will come out on Monday so that I can get all of the pictures together. It will be a long one with a lot of pictures and it will be fun to share. I just didn’t have the energy to do it today.
The thing that I am most excited about is that I am really gardening again, not just putting things in pots but in the ground and in the back yard that is really big with a really large fenced in area, a 5′ wooden privacy fence all the way around with 2 sheds where there used to be a very large garden, it is all blank and empty now. Between the terrible house fire and the hurricane that hit hard here a couple of years ago there is simply nothing left, but, I have been enormously inspired by a little book called Mini Meadows: Grow a Little Patch of Colorful Flowers Anywhere around Your Yard and that is exactly what I’m doing! I got 100 gladiolas for $6 and I am going to make a little gladiola hill in the place where the giant pecan tree fell during the hurricane. It left a big mound of earth which I guess the tree pulled up as it fell on my roof and a bit of the stump is still there. I am going to plant the gladiolas there! My big project which I am very excited about and have been working very hard at the last 2 days and will be for the next couple of weeks is digging a small trench all along the long fence separating my yard from my neighbors and ending in the back shed. I have already dug the trench around the shed and am starting down the fenceline. I got a big bag of all kinds and colors of sunflowers + a big bag of one of my favorite flowers, “Tithonia Torch,” a brilliant orange flower referred to as a Mexican sunflower to plant in front of the sunflowers. It will be a glory and I am doing it all with my Japanese hand cultivator, the greatest tool ever! It cuts through the soil amazingly easily making a very big job doable for an old lady! 😀
And I am just going to carry on, after I get all the sunflowers and tithonia seeds planted, to dig up patches of earth here and there and plant all manner of seeds, “mini meadows” everywhere! This will be Molly’s and my secret garden and we are both delighted.
But today it hit me and I am so tired, I just needed to rest today. So a longer post will be here on Monday. I am so excited to share my garden plans and dreams with you and it all brought me back to one of my favorite garden quotes by one of my favorite garden writers. She was considered the garden maven of the south and wrote many books on Southern Gardening. Her name was Elizabeth Lawrence. She has been one of my greatest garden teachers over the past decades and I cherish her books. In 1957 in The Charlotte Observer she wrote…
Never let yourself be deceived about the work. Truer words were never written and a greater joy was never had.
Have a wonderful weekend dear ones. If you are gardening I’d love to hear from you what you are growing, and if you have any special plans do share them with me in the comments below. I’d love to read them!
Gardening, no…writing, YES!
I am almost finished getting one of my novels “uploaded” onto our computer, and I have the next few projects lined up after I’m done. It’s the one place I have some consistency in my life right now.
I too have been a bit lax in blogging, but I did update it tonight. Much of my writing energy is focused on the Stories right now, but I’ll see if I can spread the momentum around a bit.
Looking forward to seeing your garden grow. 🙂
Ah Victoria honey, a novel! Look at you! I’m so proud of you and excited for you. What a journey!
And thank you for being here and yes I will surely be sharing my garden in process with you and all. These are very exciting days, every morning something new is coming up. It is surely a wonder. Take care and enjoy this beautiful spring!
Much Love dear sister,
Maitri
Good Morning Maitri,
I am trying, once again, my hand at vegetable gardening. I used to have two high top garden containers that my hubby built for me. They weren’t all that large or deep and I suspect that is why most of my veggies failed to grow. We had to have containers high up off the ground because of all the pups we had (5 at one point!). Now we’re down to 2 little ones so I am planning on a “real” garden in the back yard. Possible 20’ x 10’. I can’t wait! My mother is a Master Gardener and you remind me of her. 🥰 She could easily spend 10 hours in her garden! We used to laugh at her because in the morning she’d tell us she was going to go out and work in the garden “for an hour or so”. We’d look at each other and say, “We’ll see her at dinner time.” 😂
Hello Sweetheart, it’s so good to see you here! And good luck with your new garden! I have always created very large gardens, I have never grown food but I do like to grow herbs, but I am a flower gardener in the main. However, last year I started 3 little blackberry bushes that grew a LOT, this year they will set fruit but I realized it would be way too many blackberries for me so I gave two of them to my daughter and her family. I had planted them in half barrels which they will be good in for some time but this year mine is in the ground.
And oh goodness your mother sounds just like me! I used to head out into the garden as soon as my coffee was made carrying my coffee and a little notebook and pen so I could record everything that was just coming up and all my thoughts about the garden. After the fire and the hurricane my heart was so broken I didn’t think I would ever garden again but I started last year in pots and now they are in the ground and I am adding more. Real gardeners like you and I may fall away for a time but we always come back! I hope your garden provides a wonderful bounty for your table and a great deal of joy in your heart.
Blessings and love to you dear one…
Maitri