What makes a gardener’s heart quicken with joy?
Every gardener has those special things that pluck our gardener’s hearts strings.
The acquisition of a new plant from a lengthy list of “be on the look out for.”
Wandering through nurseries aimlessly, no destination in mind.
Spending time enjoying the flowers and k nowing that you are not responsible for deadheading, or watering, just for sniffing, and admiring.
A impulse buys that turn out to be a treasure, giving more blossoms then you had hoped for.
A cherished plant pushing out it’s first blooms of the season.
Summer heat bringing on the start of overflowing veggie bounty.
Tools of the trade
Gloves that fit… like a glove, as if they are made for you.
Trowels fitted to the curve of the hand, slicing through the soil.
Favourite gardening clothes… perfectly comfortable, easy to wash.
Gardening trugs, workhorses that carry weeds, soil, water, tools, and add splashes of color as they work.
Tools that make the job easier, rakes, shovels, spades in duplicates, a set in front, and a set in back. No wandering around looking for the right tool.
The dirty stuff
Soil sifted through fingers, weed free, rich in nutrients.
Finding a long slimy earthworm, knowing that it means healthy soil, where only dust and weeds grew before.
Compost, black, moist recycled gold. In with the old, out with the new.
Organic veggies, fresh from the earth, and a side order of sunny days.
No pesticides, knowing that you, the birds, and the critters, can touch, sniff, pluck, and admire chemical free.
Plant it and they will come
Butterflies the colourful kaleidoscopes of fragile tissue in flight.
Bird song as background music, the happy buzzing of bees, with their scatter brained antics diving into bud after bud, emerging dusted with pollen.
Insects that devour those that devour your leaves, bug karma at it’s best.
The circle of life is in the garden… you grow, you eat, you get eaten.
Designer colors
From Mother Nature’s palette, never out of style. hot pinks, bright oranges, golden greens, shady greys, glistening whites, sunny yellows, shaggy browns.
Passionate purples, limey chartreuse, charcoal, peach, raspberry, cobalt blues, vivid violets.
From beginning gardeners, to established, along with those who garden only with their eyes, may there be many moments when you realize how beautiful a garden is, and what reward we reap when we sow our hopes into the soil.
It’s hot here, and going to get even hotter… but I am keeping cool with infused water.
I was out gathering [sweating in the garden] some goodies, and decided to throw a few things together to see what I could come up with.
Use the juice of one lime, add a few cucumber slices, some fresh parsley, and a few sprigs of fresh mint.
This not only tastes great, it’s sugar free, pour over ice and enjoy.
Stay cool!