I'm almost done. "Done" being a loose, relative term. It's never done. I just mean I'm nearly done with the greater maintenance to-dos and the greater projects of this year.
1. The new Zen garden: done. Well, I still have to mulch the beds but I'm waiting for the zinnia and sunflower seedlings to show their heads so I don't mulch over them. And we're still waiting on delivery of the bench but that's just cosmetic. For all intents and purposes: done.
2. The area behind the veggie garden: done. Ugh, this sucked but it was satisfying. First of all, it let me recycle a boatload of cardboard boxes by laying them down on the ground instead of landscape cloth (satisfying). Second, I was mulching with gravel, and the gravel pile is clear on the other side of the lawn, and so I barrowed back and forth, uphill both ways, shlepping, shoveling and raking gravel (suck). That was my leg workout for the week.
OK, so let me ask you...I can't believe I'm sharing this...but are there any other sick, twisted individuals out there who, when faced with a back-breaking, arduous task of some sort, tell themselves to suck it up and pretend they're in a Nazi work camp and you do it or die? No? Just me? Never mind...
So it's done, cross that off the list. I moved over my rhododendron bush which is blooming for the first time EVER. It'll be much happier here. I'm so glad this is done, I love it. It's clean and neat and now the vegetable garden looks beautiful from all angles.
As do I.
3. Vegetable garden: done. Done as in everything is in, planted, sown. The paths could use some mulch and a lot of my birdhouses are falling apart, but I'm not stressing about it. I love this garden so much. Recently I imported some posts from our old family blog. Now when I show you the view from here, you can click here and see how we built it back in 2007: It's come a long way, baby. Now is time to just enjoy.
I have to remind myself of this, to stop and smell the flowers. This time of year, I work upstairs at the dining room table where I can always look out the windows and see my flowers. I walk through the beds several times a day, pulling a few weeds, deadheading, taking pictures, or just looking to see what's different. Every day something is different. It's so hard to describe the pleasure I get from gardening without resorting to cliché. I should just let the pictures do it for me. So I will.
And hello, my poppies?? Those pink ones?! I. Love. Them. They're called "fruit punch" and there is absolutely no question why. They are just dynamite, I only wish they lasted longer. Another reason to make sure to get out there and take a look, especially with the flowers that only bloom once in a season. Get out there and take a good long look, and fill up your eyes until next year.