eyes on the prize

Last night Ed came up with a terrific and sweet idea. Knowing that I feel despondent at all the shade that's taking over my Big Bed of flowers, he suggested that we move the picnic table to the side, which would allow for the extension of the Big Bed -- one that would remain sunny for the requisite six hours each day. The picnic table is never used for picnics. It's a work station for him (mechanical stuff) and a work station for me (gardening stuff) and sometimes it is a place where we pause, sit down and take stock of all that's around us. You have to understand that my flowers are visible from the courtyard and really only from the courtyard of the farmette. So it is vital to make that courtyard a place where you can do your work, but, too, where you can soak in the wonders of the growing season.

We implemented his idea this morning. And it is one glorious morning!

 

After breakfast, of course. We had leftover treats from Chicago's Daisy and they are so very delicious that even Ed couldn't resist them.

We get to work then. It's a major overhaul for us. We have heavy stumps that framed the table, and we have flower bins that now need a new placement, and, too, we have old strawberries in containers that require some thought as to their future. And the visuals! They will be completely different now! You can't really appreciate this until I fill the tubs with annuals, but the courtyard will now be along these lines.

Wait, we revamped it even more. Ed brought in some stones from the stockpile of dug-out boulders and we created a two-tiered bed. 

 

I'm glad I ordered some more lilies online! I have a new space to fill! And maybe, just maybe, I'll be more careful in what I place in this very visible extension.

 

We go inside for a quick rest. Ed brings up a a video from the NY Times and we watch it and I marvel at how absolutely Polish it is! A perfect capture of a border dispute! But of a less heated one. You'll understand the pun if you watch it.

 

And out again. We dig up the ground cover that abutted the picnic table and I replant it by the sheep shed. And the sun keeps going strong so that we are down to our shirts and even that feels like it's too much.

 

 

Working alongside Ed is right up there for me. As good as Paris! Perhaps better. The fields around the courtyard are my domain and he let's me have the final word on all of it, but the fact is, he is a design guy and making things work together in an integrated fashion is his lifelong passion and skill. He sometimes has a bad gardening idea, but not very often.

 

Okay. We do need to stop in the early afternoon. No, I don't have the kids today. I have eye surgery instead. Did you know that cataracts can come back for a second run? Yes they can! Out they come once more. An easy peasy laser thing. I'm home by late afternoon.

 

For the rest of the day I review all the perennials I ordered back in January. I feel the loss of our own local perennial farm -- the Flower Factory, but I have to say, there are so many places that will pack up your loot and mail it to you these days that I can hardly mind. And, of course, there are the annuals still to be purchased. Hey, did you know that Kopke's Greenhouses open their doors on April 18th? That's nine days from now! How did it suddenly become spring?! (I ask this in total wonderment every single year... The seasons do change. And we are all the better for it.)