Here's a surprise for me: working in the garden with a plan in hand is harder, much harder than simply planting from the box as you unpack the year's new arrivals. Especially when the number of new arrivals is, well, rather large.
I'm on my third day of planting (after a really slow start) and I felt that today I would catch up a bit. Immediately after breakfast.
I have plants everywhere. In little containers. In plastic bags. Wrapped in newspaper shreds. Plants from my local gardener, plants from three other nurseries. On the picnic table. On the porch. In the mudroom. All mixed up. And it turns out one big box of day lilies was delayed (even as smaller boxes of them arrived -- here they are, bare root and ready)...
So how do manage the chaos? I look at my maps, I zero in on a space and then back off as I find that some plants are still missing and some spaces cant be disturbed until the electric lines people mark the territory. Basically, it's slow going. A handful goes in this morning. But really, mediocre progress!
I pause at lunch time for my daughter and the grandkids.
Yes, there's some eating and, too, reading on the orange couch.
But there is a lot of outdoor time. (Snowdrop: can I eat my dessert on the porch?)
(Sparrow: can I go on the porch too?)
This is where I love to use the camera most. Outside! Nature and kids. Is there are better combination? (A string of such photos follows!)
There is a threat of rain this afternoon and honestly, I so would like it if we had a solid shower. Everything is dry out there. I pause, waiting for the magic sound of raindrops on the roof, but nothing happens. All is quiet. I return to the plants.
A total of 20 planted for the day. That's paltry on a day that has me spending so many hours outside.
Tonight we're to get that last (I hope) frost. I bring in the annuals, telling them it's their final trip into the farmhouse. Tomorrow I'll start in on the flower tubs. Those at least have no grand plan, no rhyme or reason. Mindless arrangements that sometimes work, sometimes look a little wild, but somehow always bring that stable base of color all summer long.
This evening, all that's left is to cook up a pot of soup. I have kale, I have spinach, I have onions, I have carrots. I have cannellini beans. And parmesan shavings on top. And at the end of the day -- a pot with leftovers for the week. For those too busy days, when I continue to struggle with the plans and the flowers and everything else that goes into a planter's day.
