May 15, 2012
Gardens, gardening, growing things, hands in the dirt, dirt on my shoes, dirt on the floor. As long as it's not dog poop on the floor, I'm ok with that. . .

Back to gardens. I look out my window and see the plants I've put into the ground. Some were planted years ago, some in the past few days. I can see the greenhouse that sits as a fortress against inclement weather. It still holds the basil and melon starters that were reassigned back inside when the temps dropped yesterday. The past few weeks of warm weather was a false start to summer and our early sunburns will probably peel and fade away.  As of today we are having a typical rainy cool spring day. I hope it doesn't get much cooler or I might have to dig up a few of the more tender veggies and put them in the fortress for protection.

I owe this blog to Jason and Sarah who encouraged me on Mothers' Day (over a deliciously spicy dinner cooked by Chef Silpher) to share the things I know about gardening. I hesitate to call it 'knowledge', because most of what I do comes without thinking about it. There's this instinct or flow of actions when I'm working in the garden, planting, pruning, observing. Sometimes I can explain what or why or how I do what I do, sometimes I act from a feeling or instinct of what needs to be done --totally sidelining my brain--and not 100% correct I might add. Growing stuff is definitely an ongoing lesson.

Additionally, maybe this blog can substitute for my manually kept journal. I like to keep the details and history of what I plant, and have done so for years. Each seasonal planting gets a map drawn of what is planted where, and subsequently an evaluation after harvesting. What worked, what didn't. What to definitely plant next year. What to never, ever plant again. Not sure if a blog will totally substitute for the pencil-in-hand and notebook, but maybe.

So with all that said, I'm heading out between rain showers to take some photos of what's blooming in my yard today.