When the first warm breath of Spring air hits, I, like many others, am drawn back into the garden to clean up, to plant and to dream of a bloom and fruit or vegetable filled summer.
All too often, the best laid plans of home gardeners go awry.
This happens for a number of reasons. Some people truly do not realize the workload they are setting themselves up for, and their enthusiasm overcomes good judgment as far as how much to plant.
Others are just too easily distracted, especially since gardening can be serious physical labor.
Myself, the heat is what gets to me here in Oklahoma. I have no problem doing the weeding and deadheading necessary to keep a garden happy if only I had time to do it when the average temperature was below 90 and the humidity at less than jungle strength. I try to break the weeding down into smaller bits, but this is our busy time at work, and I come home too worn out to want to work out in the hot, oppressive air. (And it usually works out that I have other obligations when the temperature might be less daunting.)
This year, so far, I am doing better. I remind myself that slaving away in the flower beds and vegetable beds counts as exercise on my NutriMirror diet/exercise/weightloss tracking website.
Right now, I do have a list of things that need to be done sometime in the next few days. There are the dianthus that need to be dead-headed, there are numerous weeds in the front flower beds that need to be evicted, the vegetables and roses will need to be fed and insect-sprayed again on Monday or Tuesday. There's a branch on the Pin Oak that hangs too low, it needs to be removed.
I do have some nice plants going so far.
The photo shows my metal bunny statue in the herb bed. He has parsley and thyme and oregano and a volunteer pansy to keep him company.
The best part of gardening is being able to enjoy the beauty (and the fresh veggies and herbs!) that your work creates. I often dread the work, but it is surely worth it.
