The joy of spring really in the digging

The joy of spring really in the digging
                        

Beautiful, sunny, warm days encourage working in our gardens. Taller Half prefers sitting on the porch, in the shade, working on his various projects. His projects do not include gardening. I, on the other hand, love gardening weather and have been known to overdo myself a bit and usually a lot. A visit to a local nursery has me loading up on a big variety of flowers and bushes. The problem is finding enough energy to get all those lovely things planted.

Some flowers planted last spring have reappeared while others have not. We did have a rough winter, but every plant was generously mulched, so lack of proper care was no excuse for not bursting forth this spring. No worries, new flowers, though just the hardiest ones available, are replacing those that succumbed to winter’s bullying. Extra mulch also is on order.

When I was a child, my dad, who was raised on a farm, always hired someone to prepare and plant our gardens. Dad refused to dig in the dirt. I, on the other hand, loved to help the hired gardener with all things gardening. Our gardener was a wonderful man and taught me how to create and maintain gardens. Bless him for his patience with a small child.

To this day, even as an older adult, my joy is digging in dirt, planting flowers and vegetables, and keeping weeds at bay. The joy of seeing a plant mature, bud and bloom is worth every bee sting, ants crawling up legs and being totally caked with dirt. Of course, that’s my opinion. Taller Half might see things a bit differently.

Two of our children have inherited my love of gardening. They totally understand my fixation, and neither one of them minds getting dirty. Both of them like to caution me about over-doing my garden work, but both of them have been known to do the same.

Taller Half likes to call our gardening a “fixation.” He dares to say that when he happily spends hours playing with his model railroad set. He does not get dirty, but he does make a lot of noise. On the other hand, gardening is done outside and is quiet. Gardeners win!


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