Playing in the dirt.

I may have bitten off more than I can chew with my many areas to weed, cultivate and plant this spring, now summer...took that little 10-day Mickey trip and am a bit behind.

I do love to sit in a patch of dirt, though, and contemplate life. I have had many serious conversations with myself while digging out a weed. Have compared a bump in life's road, a hiccup in a plan, to said weed many, many times. Some very intense speeches have been prepared, but never delivered, to my husband, while I am elbow deep in black dirt.  Oh, if he knew the things I have shared with the hosta and ferns. He isn't always the subject of these talks - sometimes it might be over an unpleasant customer service exchange, or something that has stuck in my craw, as the saying goes, that will cause a plant to suffer through a few choice words.  Gardening is to be therapeutic, right? And, it is therapeutic to release your frustrations, right? Not to harbor anger or grudges?

Funny side story here…I found myself in a therapist’s office a few years ago, talking about some kind of crappy stuff and I mentioned I just wanted to feel well enough to garden.  He said to me “I am convinced you shouldn’t be driving a car, much less garden!”

Today, I feel a little behind the 8-ball in trying to get the yard a bit more ready for the next few weeks of fabulous that make up our summers.  I may have gotten a bit “pie in the sky” thinking a lot of the landscaping would be taken care of by this time, post renovation.  But, it’s a lot to have all four sides of the house disrupted and a bit more tweaking to do and expect the flower beds to all be fixed up. I mean, I got gutters last week, so only now can start thinking foundation planting.  Landscaping is way down on the list…and the budget.

  

This afternoon, however, I did play in the dirt on one side of the shed.  I did some talking to some people, some imaginary friends and some “ghosts”, perhaps, of friends past.  I did a quick review of the budget for landscaping in my head and what I still hoped to accomplish this year.  Aside from the piles of dirt around the house, which I have accepted for 2017, the moon garden needs help, the shed perimeter.  The small bed across from our bedroom and the area just behind it. 

This year, I cemented my fondness for my favorite yard tool, which is that claw like thing that takes out weeds like a champ and lets me get pretty agressive.  I discovered some favorite mulch.  Well, it’s not mulch so much as shreds of bark and clippings, and it's from last year ~ probably not to be found ever more and why do I do this to myself?   And, my favorite plastic trowel, which is awesome in a bag of my favorite mulch, and it cost me 25 cents during an off season sale at K-mart…which is now closed and I really bought it for the grandkids.   

I have a lot on my mind and the flower bed is a great place to release those thoughts.  Protect society and garden, people.