Gardening Rituals
Spring comes, I can’t wait for the snow to melt and temperatures to consistently remain above freezing so I can plant my garden! Fresh vegetables from my backyard! Yes! What can go wrong?
I call this the Circle Garden. It has since been filled with wonderfully blooming perennials. Sadly the ground cover at the front of it has not grown back this year. It primarily has perennial bachelor’s buttons, lilies, Echinacea, and one other plant which I forget.
My mom has taught me since I was young that I should never plant until after the May long weekend (which is usually around May 24th I think? I don’t properly know!).
Usually about 2 weeks after the May long weekend I realize that I haven’t planted my garden yet. Even though it was all I could think about when the snow was melting!!
I love the promise of flowers about to bloom!
Next thing you know June is almost done and my garden is still bare! I run to the nursery (read: drive because there are no nurseries within walking distance of my house) to buy as many vegetables and perennials I can find within whatever random budget I set for myself.
While inside the nursery, I realize 2 things:
- I cannot add simple numbers together, even with the assistance of a calculator
- I do not understand the price of plants based on the weird pot colour/size scheme they have
I throw random vegetables and perennials into my cart and hope that I am not spending $100s!
I bring my plants home, water them, and try to plant everything within a day or 2. I vow to water all my plants first thing in the morning.
A rose bush that I bought then abandoned when I still lived at home. I need to go and trim it up for my mom…it is one of the many gardening tasks I tell myself I will do better each year! (note, my mom has since replaced the sad fence!)
A week later, I realize that not only have I not planted my plants, but I haven’t watered them either! I decide right there and then I need to plant them. Unfortunately by this point, the weeds have taken over so I have to weed. Also, I have to clean up all of the dead plants from last year. While doing this, I think to myself “this isn’t that bad, I can spend at least an hour a week weeding and the garden will look great! This fall, I am going to clean up the plants and get the ready for winter for sure”.
I plant all the plants and read the fertilizer package. It says to fertilize every 3-4 days at first then every 5-7 days. I can do this. Maybe not first thing in the morning, I’ve learned my lesson but definitely every night before bed I can water the plants. And I WILL fertilize them.
A week and a half later, I realize that I haven’t watered or fertilized the plants once and it has only sprinkled outside once. The weeds are growing but I don’t have an hour to spare! But I can water the plants.
I love have beautiful and delicate columbine looks. I also love the deep colour of these. I’ve not yet found a place in my yard to keep them alive.
2 weeks later: not only have I not watered, but I haven’t done any weeding much less an hour a week. I must weed. Approximately 30 seconds into weeding, I discover that the mosquitoes have arrived. About 2 minutes into it, I wonder why I thought this was a good idea in the first place and next year, maybe I should just grass over my garden.
From this moment on, I ignore the garden unless some beautiful flowers have bloomed, or the weeds are higher than the plants.
Somehow despite all this, I end up with beautiful flowers and some vegetables which I forget to eat more of than not!
