HERD ABOUT IT?

by ana grarian

Five AM is not an easy time to get up, at least not quite yet. I haven’t quite reclaimed the habit of early to bed, and it is still a little dark out. Yet, I know that very soon it will be my best time of day. As the afternoons warm up I will be best at weeding before the sun has reached it’s peak, which means before work.
Even through the winter as I huddle under the covers, I know I should be up and writing, because if I wait until the rest of the house is busy, or the time to leave for work looms too close, I will have lost my concentration. This old brain likes to wander. Even this morning I am scanning the net for pig in the garden pictures – and came up with these delightful Beatrice Potter images of Guinea Pigs in the garden. I hope my Grandson gets a kick out of them.
The Grandkids and I worked in the gardens this week. They are looking pretty spiffy. Now I need to haul mulch and some more soil for the front garden box. I need to build another box to extend my front garden up the hill (and then plant those daffodil bulbs that I couldn’t find last fall, but spilled right out at me this spring). My hope is that the box will protect the plants from dogs. I have made sure to leave a grass strip around the boxes, because hey – people have to be able to walk their dogs, and hopefully now most of the urine will hit the boards.
My flowers around the telephone pole are doing quite well. I can’t even remember what some of them are, but they are already heading up, so I should know soon. I should keep a plant map, but that would take organization. This year I planted some innia seeds again. They were so bright and cheerful, I missed them last summer.
I need to put in another rain barrel, and to raise the first one so that I can siphon water from it to water. Carrying it all by the watering can makes for slow progress. If only my landlord would replace my upper gutters, or at least the downspout. Then I could move the rain barrel to the uphill side.
I hope to catch water from the washer to use. The trick is how to set it up so It won’t look too messy from the outside. I suppose I could just let it water whenever I do wash. Will wash water work in a garden soaker hose? With a sprinkler? I’m not sure.
This sure has been a learning process. I think this year I will try to make bins out of wooden pallets to grow my potatoes. The trash can didn’t work last year, I think because it was black and absorbed too much heat. I need to get my strawberry barrel built too. And now that I have found a good list of plants that will grow under a Black Walnut tree, I need to revamp my back garden……every crop I plant is a Guinea Pigs in my garden….

Gardens are like books – too much fun to be had, and too little time.