This post was originally published on September 3, 2024.
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Similar to a New England year, I tend to go through seasons. Sometimes I don’t know what those seasons are and I bang my head against the wall. Other times I don’t realize it was a season until I look back and it’s suddenly clear. Then there are other times when I really, truly believe there will be a future season.
Well, I’ve finally caught up chronologically with a season I’ve always suspected that I wanted to have. I bet you’re on the edge of your seat, wondering, Kristina, what on earth could this season be?!
Well, friends, it’s my gardening season. It’s in the very early stages. And I’m super grateful to have a master gardener as my Mr. Miagi.
Earlier this year, we started off by clearing out some beds that had become unruly.
I planted Zinnia seeds. (They didn’t grow.)
Then we did some dreaming of what we’d do to re-landscape the front yard.
We planted several types of vegetables in grow boxes on the deck. They started off pretty robust! (But didn’t end that way.)
I tended my little vegetable garden and delighted in seeing them grow!
I mowed the lawn.
My Main Squeeze pulled out some of the really bad weeds.
I cleaned up around the enclosed garden. I didn’t know what I was doing but I did it anyway.
I got overwhelmed by all of the weeds in the cracks of the driveway and front walk. I decided I didn’t have the right tools and so, well, the weeds are still there growing.
I got stung four times by angry yellow jackets the second time I went out to mow the lawn.
I did not mow on the diagonal. Or any pattern, for that matter. I figured as long as it was shorter than when I started, it was a success.
I learned that if I filled this one trash can that’s been hanging around our garage with the lawn clippings our garbage man would take the refuse and leave me my can for filling up again!
I pulled up the rye grass in the enclosed garden paths, threw them in the beds so that the soil would receive the nutrients over the winter.
I watched the groundhog poke around the peony bed for his evening meals.
I watched the doe eat the neighbor’s bush in the still of the early morning. Then I watched her baby forage for his bedtime snack in our back lawn. I missed the buck stroll past the Hinoki tree on his evening promenade, though.
I dreamed of all our yard could be. How much produce we could grow and how lovely it would be to get some runner ducks. And I started dreaming of next year.
I knew this year was the season for keeping things somewhat maintained. Surviving, basically. Once the growing season is done this fall, it will be the season for preparing well for next year’s growing season. We’ll clean up, prune back, prepare beds and begin the restoration process.
We’ll also do some clearing out of our shed and assess the tools as we reorganize them. We’ll properly winterize the ones that need winterizing. Did you know that gas gets old?
I think that preparing both the nature and the tools we have to tame the nature we’re responsible for will be a huge step forward in restoring our property to a new glory. It’s been glorious before and it will be again!
Any of you seasoned gardeners? I’d love any advice or tips!
Until next time, I’ll be snipping overgrown branches!
Happy gardening, friends!
