Well, I caved. Being so immersed in gardening, I could not allow myself to stop, almost arbitrarily, on October 10th. Sure, there will be bulbs to plant later, but I cannot emphasize enough how boring it is to plant bulbs. Not only do you not see anything for months on end, but then, too, you forget where you planted what. Since mine is a new garden all around, I am still barely remembering what perennials are planted where, so that spring will be at least in part a bit of a surprise. But with bulbs, it will be a total surprise as I am not about to make a map of daffodils or tulips. So, I do not call bulb planting real gardening. October 10th is the day I stop real garden work.
This is why building a greenhouse (remember? The $10 000 to $25 000 one?) was so enticing. Prolonging the growing season. Tending plants year round.
So this morning I went ahead and bought a greenhouse! And they promise me I can put it up myself and it will only take 15 minutes.
Okay, so not quite a greenhouse of the type you put outdoors with tempered horticultural glass and a watering system and solar panels. This one is merely a plant light over pods of seedlings -- something I can put on the kitchen countertop. (I should note that Ed is doing the same, only he is using big ugly lamps and his ambitions are higher -- going for tomatoes. Me, I'm sticking with small herbs and flowers. One hundredth the price of a real greenhouse, and I dont even need a building permit (nor Ed's help) to set it up!
What finally pushed me over to plant light growing? It's the absence of any blooms in the winter. Yes, I do grow orchids and those do flower, but they must stay by an indirect light source. It's not as if you can keep them on a table or a kitchen counter. For years (nay, decades!) I've been buying grocery store flowers on my weekly shopping trips, but lately, I just cant get excited by that. The flowers feel frozen in time. They are not seasonal (so that I can pick up tulips now, in September). They never change. Always the Alstroemeria. Mums. And arrangements. Nasty groupings of flowers that do not belong in the same vase. Sure, there are flower services and they will deliver stunning bouquets, but those are completely unaffordable for me. So, what better way to bring in fresh growth if not through lights and pods and such! Hey, I use coffee pods too. I am not a purist. Efficiencies are important!
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And here's another way in which I just give in and follow a trend -- I follow on FaceBook a ridiculously silly dog named Coco. And I love these daily video clips of this real mini doodle, dressed in (AI generated) adorable outfits, explaining by way of interview the way of life of a dog. They're about a minute long, and I find them to be so adorable and charming that I know I will walk away from them smiling. Guaranteed. (I believe you can also follow Coco the doodle pup elsewhere -- Instagram and such.) Having a mini doodle myself, I know too well that these dogs are really fabulous human companions. The wisdom in these daily mini clips is that you can actually imagine that if your doodle could express thoughts, this is exactly what she would say.
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I come downstairs with Millie to a living space (it's all just one room on the ground floor) bathed in sunlight. How I love to see outdoor light pouring in in this way!
Our walk is again sublime. Light mist over the wetlands, sunshine creeping up on Steffi''s House.
Breakfast.
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Today is the day Millie gets a bath and a fur trim. Once a month. I could save a little by doing this once every five weeks, but her face fur gets long too quickly and the poor pup cant see beans by the end of a month.
I drop her off at noon and return to my garden. I'm still waiting for my last roses to arrive. I clean up some holes, dig one more for a climber that was a last minute addition, and just as I am about to set out to pick up Snowdrop, the UPS truck pulls up, and my delivery person brings over a few boxes. She asks -- do you grow and sell roses at the farmers market maybe?
That would be a nice way to share the blooms. But rose bushes take a while to become fully floriferous. Initially, you'll see only a handful of blooms. Enough to clip a couple for the house in the summer. But actually, as with all my gardens, I'm loathe to cut flowers. My rose garden is split into several smaller gardens, but the biggest by far is the one next to the side bike/pedestrian walkway. It would be wonderful if the people who routinely use this path would pass by blooming roses and smile. Sort of like watching Coco the doodle, only you wont need a screen to get that grin going.
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Snowdrop, for once, is among the early kids.
We walk their big dog Goose, we read. It's one of those perfectly Snowdropish afternoons. Lovely, peaceful.
The girl begs to go with me to pick up Millie from the groomer, but I just do not have it in me to drive all the way to the far east side for the pup, and then to drive her all the way back to the west side to get her home, and then return with Millie all the way back to Steffi's House. In rush hour traffic, all of it. As it is, I'm late for Millie's pick up. Not that she minds!
The sweetest dog. And yes, she, too, makes me smile. Consistently. Broadly.
with so much love...
