Back in the mid-nineties I’d spend hours in my flower gardens. Pulling weeds, planning, and dreaming of what plant would go where next. Even back then I needed a lot of help with digging and the harder grunt work, and I took it for granted that I’d always be able to do all the wonderful things that I was able to do.
My favorite time to pull weeds was when it was gently raining since they’d be easy to pull out. It was so therapeutic. I didn’t have good black soil so weeds were harder to pull. Nothing like hard clay to try to weed and grow flowers! I incorporated a lot of sand for drainage and used my own compost. I had a makeshift compost bin in the back yard; I really didn’t compost “correctly”, but it worked. I routinely added lots of organic material to the bin, stirred it the best I could, and watered it down as needed. Before long I’d have the sweetest smelling soil to add to my gardens. Back in the day it was called “sweetening the soil”.
I loved going outside in the wee morning hours and sitting on the garden bench and taking in all the beauty of the flowers blooming with all their lovely pastel and vibrant colors. So many pollinators such as bees and butterflies enjoyed the many different varieties of flowers too. I loved hearing the bees buzzing! I’d spend hours at various nurseries buying flowers and trading plants with others in the neighborhood. I also loved going to the local library and dragging home armloads of gardening books. I’d pore over them for hours and kept a notebook to log all my dream plants and plant care notes in.
I still enjoy gardening to this day. But now my job is to plan what plants to buy and what plant goes where. I’m no longer able to do any of the physical labor, but my husband enjoys doing it. He loves our pretty landscaped yard. We grow what the pollinators are attracted to: nectar-rich flowers and berry laden shrubs and trees. There’s lots of cover for the birds and other wild animals to stay safe, and birdhouses and mature trees for the birds to raise their young. Bird baths abound and there’s areas of dust alongside the house for the birds such as sparrows to “bathe” in.
We have plans this year to move our existing shed that’s sitting on part of our concrete patio out to the back of our yard. It’ll help hide part of the view of the neighbor’s house behind us and add more privacy. My husband would also like to build some sort of awning over our patio. If he builds the awning, we will need to extend the present flower garden that’s right in front of the patio out further so the flowers will get adequate sunlight. We will just have to wait and see how things go this year!
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