Thursday, September 27, 2012

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Well .. I survived my birthday yesterday!   It was a beautiful sunny day!  DH asked me what I would like to do .. and since we couldn’t fly anywhere, the plane is needing some work .. I wanted to just be outside in my garden for a while.  So he said that it was my day and I could choose … so that’s what I did.

Spent some time soaking up the sun … looking at the work I”d completed thus far.    Opening up the garden space .. creating a little side path, 2 bricks wide. perfect for delineating some space at the side .. and also making a tidy route to the composters, when it rains and perhaps (hate to say this) snows!

Happy that I am able to spend time like this when I can … how very decadent .. from a lifetime of working away at jobs that paid the bills.

I do yearn for more organization in my life .. to make a schedule for my days .. that’s the way I’ve lived my life and it’s very difficult to change and just have no responsibilities.  Except for, you know, organizing the yard, decluttering, getting on with my artistic hobbies .. like sewing, which I do love very much; playing with my acrylic paints, painting on glass, beadwork.

Sigh.  Just some random thoughts, I think.  On another year, a new start to the year .. how exciting.  New energies.   Sometimes I think I am too hard on myself and so I’ll cut some slack.  I do get a lot accomplished.   And I do notice that I don’t often just relax and do nothing.  Even when I relax, I’m sipping tea, solving Sudoku puzzles and looking for birds up in the sky.

I’ve decided (after a talk with DH) to make changes in the veggie garden .. and then .. keep them that way, instead of changing the shape every year.  So today I dug out all the blueberries, red currants, raspberries and other plants that were randomly placed.  And increased the width of the garden at the very back of the yard.   This is where I am planting very tall perennials .. to add more privacy to the yard.

Privacy in the yard .. that is the number one thing that people want  … a place for solitude and  shut away the world.  It doesn’t take much to start with.  Make a plan is a good way to start.

Then choose the plants, cedars are great.  As are laurels (keep them trimmed so they will fill out more) Silverberry (same thing, I just pruned the 2 gigantic plants in the back), bamboo – depending on the type, most are shallow rooters, so just line the planting area with heavy landscape material and the roots will stay confined, they won’t spread.  Or you can just keep clipping the roots that grow from the main plant.

And raspberries .. well .. the raspberry canes this year grew to be over 7 feet.  And I believe that this was due to the EM that I fed them.  Even some plants that had been reduced to sticks, grew and flourished with the EM.  I’m serious!

My gardening style is rather hit and miss.   When I really want to make big changes and find that I’m initially lacking the drive and energy to do so, I actually trick myself.  Rather in a similar manner to decluttering, I think.

With decluttering, and feeling overwhelmed with the task ahead, I simply remove one item from the area.  Take it outside.  Repeat  Repeat.  Repeat.  Soon I have a nearly empty area and can then decide whether I want to recycle or re-use the items.

I find that I sort of work the same way in the garden.  Dig.  Dig. Dig.  Uproot plants.   Put in temporary containers and then leave the area .. maybe go inside, make some tea . .or wander around the yard.  Then I return to the original working area, look with fresh eyes at what I’ve done.  I always amaze myself.  What .. I did that?

And that is what I found happened yet again today!  I’ve left the yard to relax overnight.  Happy that I’ve really made a dent in reshaping the berry area and changed the energy flow of the yard.    And I also replanted some of the blueberries, raspberries and bamboo in different areas, sort of a staggered, layering design.

Trimmed some branches of the wild and crazy tree, letting in more light.

And left the yard happy that I have really accomplished some changes and look forward to continuing in this vein tomorrow.

And tomorrow, I must make the decision to harvest whatever little zucchini’s and squash plants that are there.  Fall has arrived.  And I really really really want to plant my garlic!!!
🙂