Seattle is the red star. I’m a little NW of that. Being in a somewhat clear area is encouraging but obviously the optimism is only temporary. And “cold unstable air”? At least in the present moment everything is stable, just the tiniest wisp of a breeze. But it’s 45 degrees, man. Not sticking my hands into cold wet soil today.
There are weeds to be pulled, chaos to be pushed back, oregano to be pulled/harvested/burned, and a seedbed to be watered (that I can do) because this is the second day of no rain. Just the seedbed today, just the seedbed…then go back inside to another cup of coffee and a day of writing.
It’s not even May yet…May is usually iffy, June is sometimes iffy, the NW joke is that July 5th is the first day of summer…
My spring gardening gets along well with my procrastination. I have no heat pads nor do I have space for starting anything indoors, so instead I occasionally water my one raised bed in the garden area where I’ve planted peas, chives, and wildflowers and my one container outside that has more wildflower seeds in it. Last night it rained some, so no watering necessary today.
Instead I read other garden blogs. I’m gathering a list of things I can do indoors that are kind of garden-ish. I’ve learned how to make seedling pots out of newspaper –https://youtu.be/7dlGQP81yfo?si=H2OzgO4jqOlmVczt ; I only made one and am thinking of it as garden origami. It’s on my desk full of odds and ends. Now I have reduced the constant clutter. Maybe if I make 999 more, my garden will do well this year…meanwhile, I’ve done a tiny bit of recycling and housekeeping…
I sprouted some scarlet runner beans to test viability and potted one sprout because I couldn’t stand sending them all to the compost. And I found a few inches of space on a table by a window…
I read about a rookie gardener, gardening with a friend for support. I choose to garden with a plastic lawn chair that I can drag along with me, useful when getting up after kneeling or the ultimate support – break time.
To those of you who have space to force bulbs indoors…I salute you! Now is the time most of those babies are blooming. I did this once, years ago. I may bring in a daffodil this year.
Outside, I’m starting to wrangle with my worst decision ever…oregano plants that have spread everywhere. A few plants many years ago have appeared everywhere, threatening to take over the world. I love oregano; how was I to know there were two kinds, the kind that stays in one place and the kind that rivals the squirrels in ultimate real estate takeovers. I think I must have planted Greek oregano (Origanum vulgare), which propagates by seed and by underground runners.
I should have planted it in pots. However, my time machine is currently in the shop, so I am slowly cutting it to the ground, and pruning again later in the season before it flowers. Anything not containing seeds will be composted, seeds will be burned. I will only be able to partially contain it, but this will have to do. It is even growing between the pavers on the driveway…
“Dealing with Oregano” replaces my sporadic indoor exercise program, weather permitting. I leave those decisions to the Department of Procrastination.
Far be it from me to tell you what you can and can’t do in your garden…go for it, whatever your “it” is…
But for me, there are lines in the sand.
Garden gnomes are a hard no. Ok maybe one cute little guy peeking out from behind a bunch of plants. A gazebo would be nice. Maybe a scarecrow. But this? Maybe I got lost at Disneyland as a child, or was locked in a closet…this gives me PTSD and claustrophobia.
And this…maybe in a palace garden somewhere…
But not in my garden. I like more green, less sesame street. And spaces…
Overwatering. I will never do this because my husband turns off sprinklers when he thinks my garden has had enough. Even if the sprinkler is emitting a mist (which I try to leave on overnight once a week during August and whenever it’s dry).
As you can see, less is more in my garden when it comes to garden decorations, masses of neon colors, and floods. When is less, more in your yard and garden?
Pleasance (or Pleasuance) – A pleasure ground attached to a castle or mansion, usually outside the fortifications.
It didn’t take much to turn my thoughts to a different kind of inspiration…ahhh youth!…from pleasance to dalliance to romance and more…and of course it’s a rose garden.
When I was young and starting out in gardening, I was so utilitarian. Beds lined up, paths between, all the same size and shape – easy to irrigate. No romance, all practicality.
I’ve never been much of a romantic, now I look back and think, so much wasted time. I’ve lived my life backwards. Now I am more fanciful, as I slow down and smell the roses.
That’s why my main advice to gardeners is to do just that. Sit in your garden and just love it in all its pieces and possibilities. Love the soil and all that lives in it. Love all that lives upon it. Leave your intentions and goals behind for a few minutes and just love what IS. The sun and all that reaches for it. The rain and all that sucks it up through roots and into mouths. The breeze and all that flies and floats and bends.
Next in my exploration of historic/historical/hysterical garden words is mossery. Quite simply, it is a plantation of mosses. I think that describes my yard quite well. During the winter, when the weather is wet and cold, the mosses flourish. Once it warms up and dries out, the mosses die back and grass and small flowers take over. Most of my neighbors have mainly grass that isn’t green 10 months of the year.
I love the moss, so soft and green. We’re at about 50/50 now.
And in other news…other colors have arrived…
From the top: daffodils, hellebore, red flowering currants, primroses.
I just read an article about how AOC was head of a community garden in Queens NY not long after she was elected to Congress (pardon me if the exact timing on this is wrong; it doesn’t really affect the story I’m telling here) and put out a question on social media about how to approach this venture. Guess who responded? Jeremy Corbyn, the British Labour leader. He gave her some good advice too. But there’s even more fun to be had.
In 2016, Corbyn was seemingly unavailable during an important political negotiation with Virgin Trains because he was “making jam”. Once again, my imagination goes wild. How delightful to think of Corbyn and AOC sharing gardening tips…but taking respite from British politics to make jam is just so soothing right now…
Jeremy, I wouldn’t stick your fingers in that…oh the limitations of my AI dabbling…but I can’t stop.
If politicians could share a community garden, maybe world peace wouldn’t be just a pipe dream. Again, the limits of my AI talents…but what a nice thought, at any rate.
“In the spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.” — Mark Twain
Oh so true. Here in the Pacific Northwest (PNW to my homies), February isn’t waiting for March to do some roaring. We just had an “atmospheric river” pass overhead. The Weather Channel, as always, was good for some entertainment. “They” said that this river passing by held the watery equivalent of 10 Mississippi Rivers, so I passed day after dark, dreary day of rain counting the rivers…10 Mississippi, 9 Mississippi, 8 Mississippi, then I lost count.
I was indeed a sissi (sic). Letting rain – at some times barely more than a mist, at other times a solid, steady rainfall – get me down.
“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” — Roger Hornsby
Spring training has started! I get to listen to announcers gloat over the cloudless skies and temperatures in the 80s at baseball camp in Arizona. Thanks for punctuating our gloom back here at home.
“I glanced out the window at the signs of spring. The sky was almost blue, the trees were almost budding, the sun was almost bright.” — Millard Kaufman
Yeah…thanks again for sharing, Arizonians.
“When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day was people and if you could keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.” ― Ernest Hemingway
Good ol’ Hemingway, you can always count on him to bring you down if you’re getting too happy. But wait! This reminds me of why spring is such a welcome relief from winter! After the assault of people over the holidays, once again we can find solitude in our gardens!
Happy spring, whenever it arrives! Happy gardening, garden planning, end of winter!
Visiting another garden term from yesteryear…a conceit was a frivolous garden feature, design, or perhaps decoration that had little or no use. Are these fanciful posts of mine a conceit? I’ll let you be the judge.
Of course the word conceit drew me to the word conceited and ultimately to narcissism, that state of mind where you fall in love with yourself to the point of not being able to think of anyone else. The mythical figure Narcissus died of thirst and starvation because he couldn’t draw himself away from the pool he gazed into. Ah such a beauty am I, he thought…
Now back to gardening…there is a flower called Narcissus. I imagine it leaning over a pond, gazing at itself lovingly, no thought to sunlight or rain or growing upright…and I forget to help it, chaotic gardener that I am…until the narcissus dies.
she doesn’t have any indoor space to start plants in February? Plus it’s so cold outside that she’s still not gonna rake it? She can talk about what she wishes she could do re: gardening but that requires copious amounts of alcoholic beverages to overcome the melancholy of endless cold gray days…
Or she could have fun with gardening words and phrases alongside AI images she generates. I came across a webpage of gardening terms from bygone days and decided to play around. Spank me but…AI image generation is fun.
So true to my Twisted roots, give me some slack and don’t be afraid to smile…
My first phrase is privy garden, and the phrase once meant a private garden, usually one reserved for kings and queens. But not being of noble blood, and having lived for decades without indoor plumbing…my Twisted brain took me here:
