So much of starting begins with dreaming and planning. And research and gathering information. This is how I’m going to start preparing the garden for this year’s growing season.
Two years of failing to grow flowers in the little patch where the groundhog babies prefer to take their evening meals has taught me to try a different spot. That spot will be in the enclosed garden. There are three beds in that garden and I will prepare the old strawberry bed at the back for my cut flower garden.
I’ll also have to move some longstanding plants this year. The ground where they’ve been for years is no longer friendly to their health. It’s really interesting how different tree species can change the pH of soil.
To that end, we have some lime that I will need to mix in with the dirt already there because the neighbor’s huge oak tree has affected the yard’s soil composition so much.
I suppose there will also be some cleaning up from last fall. I think (more, I hope!) I’m ready to make the outside look as tidy and I like to make the inside of my home look and feel. Ug, there may be some dump runs in my future.
The first year of being the grounds keeper of our family home was realizing that mowing the lawn was now a chore I could no longer get out of. So, I tackled it with a certain level of gusto and more or less got it done. The second year was survival in maintaining the yard. I barely made it.
This year, I hope to experiment with growing actual things. Nurturing those actual things and keeping a journal to help me grow more actual things in future years.
In my method of starting to prepare the garden, I think part of it is deciding for myself that this is not a test that I need to receive high marks on. It’s not about perfection. It’s a hobby that’ll get me outside and provide so many opportunities for closer observation of nature - which I really enjoy! I think it’s also deciding that it’s ok to be a beginner at this and utilizing my new mantra: I don’t know what I’m doing but I’m doing it anyway. Failure won’t be the worst thing because it’s more valuable of a lesson to try and fall down and learn to pick myself back up. I’ll also pair the outside work with documenting it all in a journal. Since journaling is something I enjoy doing naturally anyway, that will (hopefully) inspire me to continue outside.
Maybe all this to say that I really like the idea of gardening and tending to plants and the yard and things more than the actual doing of gardening and tending to plants and the yard and things. Who knows! Come along with me and we’ll find out!
