Wednesday

Here, in Wisconsin, it's the kind of day where you say to yourself -- isn't the world a most beautiful place? A rhetorical question. It is a beautiful place.

I'm told that the town we live in dipped down to 33F, so nearly freezing last night, but I didn't see it. At its coldest moment (6 a.m.) our thermometer registered 36F. In any case, our annuals grumbled and grimaced among themselves, but they survived.

And Sandpiper survived his crash number 326 as well. Blood's wiped up, and only a fat lip remains. But Wednesday is not a grandkids day for me this spring. Wednesday is work-my-butt-off-in-the-garden day, especially since we are finally starting the uphill climb in temperatures. And the sunshine! Yes, there is plenty of it. Ed even complained that he wasn't prepared!

Breakfast, still inside, but hopefully not for long!

Our project for today is to start in on the lavender field. 

Ed had put down a tough black plastic last fall and though that strategy is never fully effective (we have some killer weeds out back!), it does cut down on the thick-rooted devils. Today, I take out my baby plants and arrange them on the chip-covered tarp and with Ed's help, I get to work.

I plant twenty, he plants ten -- that's most of them! 

The next two days will give us rain (again!) but after that we should have good working weather. We are on track to finish this job, just about the time the replacement trees for our "New Forest" arrive. Another two dozen saplings to plant out back. 

But that's not all: in the late afternoon, I finish adding some perennials in the established fields and I do some weeding as well -- this, of course, is now a staple activity for me: weeding is something that I will do daily until right around August 5th, when I will throw down my shovel and give up for the rest of the season.

Oh and I do this: Ed gets the tractor mower working and I take on the task of giving the whole property a selective trim. I do this about three or four times in the growing season, just to cut back some of the high grasses and to create paths throughout the property. Ed will likely take over maintaining the paths. It's a fairly easy job, since we are not obsessive mowers. Just enough to keep things healthy and navigable out there. 

My sweet helper tells me -- you really worked hard today! But the fact is, I dont feel it. The farmette lands are at their most thrilling point right now, when all your work planting perennials last year and for years before that, is starting to show promise. And you still think you know what you're doing. Your mistakes aren't evident -- it all looks wonderful!

So I work, but I also look and enjoy the progression that is before us. A perennial parade that starts now and doesn't end until September.

(Here's something I planted in the fall. It has a pretty name: Fritillary meleagris. I remember thinking -- wow, this plant is interesting! And it is. It's not a tulip but a lily. It's small and gets a little lost in the spring patch, right in front of the virginia bluebells (which are almost flowering!), so I thought I'd highlight it here, on Ocean. Hello, flower!)

Evening? After working almost nonstop from 10 onward, I am in no mood to cook. Pizza delivery! Windows open, the spring air mixing with farmhouse smells of roasted garlic and mushrooms on mine (and a gazillion veggies on Ed's because at Mods, the price is the same no matter how many toppings you order).

Yeah, it's a really beautiful place we inhabit. For sure.