gardening

If you live in south central Wisconsin (or in any number of other northern states) you know what the second weekend of May is like: it's the gardener's push to get spring work done! Never mind that it's also Mother's Day, and here, in Madison, graduation weekend. That's all irrelevant. If you at all care about growing your own stuff, you yearn to get those plants in, to tidy up the weed encroachment, to get your seeds in the ground. 

Now, granted, I rushed things this year (because of the knee). And mostly I was lucky. The weather did not screw me big time. The last frost was the night before my surgery. The perennials went in even earlier than that. Most of the Big Effort was behind me.

Nonetheless, true to form, today I worked hard to attend to some of the lagging details of planting. Work hard with a brand new, two week and three day old knee means something different than it did before my surgery. I strained, I paused, I iced the damn leg, I twisted the other way. I took TWO naps. Nonetheless, I really do believe that unless you have something going for this day (Like the birth of a child or some serious work commitment), if you are at all a gardener, you would understand because you were out there as well, digging, pulling, firming the ground. It's THE Saturday for gardeners. You can't escape it. SO I worked.

All my photos are from the outdoors. Of course they are! Indoor time was boring exercise time, or worse still --leg wrapped in ice pack time. So, let's see what the farmette lands look like these days!

A final look at the crab apple in bloom. Or, mostly still in bloom. Such loveliness! Thank you, stunning tree, now creating a blanket of petals underneath it.

And from another angle:

Okay, there is one indoor photo. I had to drive over to pick up my Farmers Unite produce (mostly arugula and asparagus) so I thought I may as well get breakfast treats. And I remembered what the PT person told me yesterday -- hey, don't over do it this weekend! If you're cooking dinner for the family (I guess I let that one slip out), let someone else bring the cake. Honestly, I never even considered having a cake, but since she mentioned it, I picked up a simple one from the bakery. So, a photo of some of their cakes:

With all the napping and errand running, breakfast was very late. More like early lunch.

In addition to working on putting in some fall blooming bulbs and, too, the replacement annuals, I took stock of how things are going. Mostly, I was okay with the state of plant life right now. The tulips are my usual mixture of colors and shapes...

The branching of the heavenly lilac is okay, though I see where I need to do some pruning this year.

I'm really happy with the gradual cleaning up of the land by the sheep shed. This field, which is very shady, used to be overgrown with weeds and raspberry canes that bore no fruit (absence of sunlight). I moved a bunch of hostas here and a few other shade plants. Eventually (by the end of July), weeds will creep in here as well, but right now things are looking pretty tidy. Too, the land right by the shed has some lovely novel hostas and lilies growing there and I experimented this year with shade seeds. SO much better than what was here before!

The sugar snap peas out behind the lavender fields are growing nicely. The chicken wire seems to protect them well enough. At least at this height. We'll see what happens once they get tall.

And the meadows -- I checked in with the big one in the new orchard. Yes, I could have taken out some more of the invasive grasses, but that would have been a huge project. In general, I think we'll have a pretty good meadow this year! (The hens followed me to see if I would do something interesting, like give them some more young plants to dig up. Sorry, girls!)

And the Big Bed -- it's been in a holding pattern for a couple of years. It's good, but I think it could use some small adjustments. The wave that used to move in a progression of color has lost its rhythm I think. Maybe next year. Or, maybe I'll just learn to love its own new creative spin! There's something to be said for letting the garden have a say in how it should develop!

I also worked on the front (road facing) bed, which is by far, the weakest of all the flower fields. The roots of the maples are too dense, the soil remains a challenge, the road salt run off is awful. But, if you lower your expectations, you can still enjoy the blooms that come back here each year. I tidied it up a bit, but honestly, this bed could use a solid week of work, done by a person with sound knees! Maybe next year!

And there you have it! A gardener's second Saturday in May. Hands roughened (because you always forget your gloves on several of your ventures out into the fields), lessons learned, spirits soaring. Hey, this calls for an evening spritz, with some of those apple mint leaves from a plant I put in last year!

To the health of all good people and great gardens everywhere!