Saturday Stupor

After having a crazy-busy week, and a pretty ambitious list of weekend projects - I don't even know where to start. Spring is disorienting (Sun? Green?) enough but there are so many seasonal tasks to complete in a relatively short time. Today was mostly knocking down the remains of last year's garden, raking, etc. Bob is working on a raised bed for strawberries. Might even plant a few blueberry bushes.

As I write this, Bob's talking to a landscape expert because we're in over our head. When we were newly in the house, there was nothing - so doing something looked pretty good, as improvements go. And we used to have a lot more time to garden.

Our neighborhood program gave grants for block clubs to get together, rent tillers and sodbusters, put in soil and compost, and lots and lots of plants for boulevard gardens. Quite a few families took part; working together was fun and I was glad for the help. (Especially since I was pregnant, and limited to glowing, pointing, and fetching lemonade for the sweaty masses.) That living memory up and down the street, and the awesome block parties remind me why I love living here. We may be in a small house, but we live big in our community.

We've since expanded our gardens up front, on either side of the walk, and onto the side boulevard. I doubled the size of the front bed, and planted hydrangea, arborvitae, and way way way too many lilies. We also have ferns and hosta along the shady side of our house. Lots of prairie natives, which have done very well, some ornamental grass, a few peony bushes, etc. Right now the Grecian windflowers and Siberian squill are in bloom. No crocuses yet; they may have gotten eaten by those pesky squirrels, along with all our tulips and hyacinths.

One of the rites of spring around here involves doing too much too early, and getting caught by a cold spell. It's been quite tempting this week of lovely warm days and mild nights. We've got another 3-4 weeks before you can put out the "tender" annuals and perennials.

Obviously, there will be expense involved here. The expenditure depends on what the gardening pro tells us, and how much willpower I have. Buying plants is a hopeful activity, part creative endeavor, and part meditation opportunity - pull weeds, breathe, repeat. The Friends School Plant Sale is more like a rush to Filene's Basement, but with a bunch of green-thumbed persons. I do try to swap plants and seeds with neighbors as much as possible, to keep the costs low. And I'm not sure if buying plants is "cheating" as it's like any other consumable that I've given a pass to: food, health and beauty stuff, and the like.

I did indulge today in a few pansies because they are so darned cheerful, and a lavender that I will most likely kill in short order. Hope springs eternal...