Oh yes it's happening. Jack is back.
September 7, 2016 - Frost warnings! Good grief I say and here I haven't even gotten my head around having a flower bed or garden! Let me explain.
It was spring, that joyous season, full of promise and dreams. Dreams of a tranquil space, filled with the scent of delicate blooms - green lush lawn, and bunnies hopping about... oh ok no bunnies. How about lucious tomatoes, feasts of fresh green beans, shelling peas, mmmmm baby potatoes. And of course in my minds eye I saw a bountiful herb garden, dill and cilantro, rosemary and sage...oh my.
Lawn furniture was purchased, there were the early days of the season under the shade of the apple trees, dozing, book in hand, in the warm gentle breeze. Bees buzzing contentedly in the blossoms, a robin perhaps singing off in the distance.
And I looked towards my perennials, bright and abundant, flowering shrubs and attractive foliage. Yes this was the time to day dream. It all sounded so good.
Fast forward, ambition taking over, unruly raspberry canes being pruned, weeds under control, really who needs to fertilize, it's a lawn. Late nights at the office. Companies coming and damn the borrowed lawnmower isn't really rolling along - one wheel going on it's own journey. Throttle is stuck on off - ok just call the neighbors kid, pay him to tame this jungle.. Phew, snuck through on that one!
Now let me explain the setting - we have a huge yard. Like three regular yards worth of yard, There is the boulevard - actually the village owns this and to say it's ample - well we could run a couple of cows on that grass. The redeeming factor here - it's green. That's about it. The grass just doesn't stop growing, doesn't slow down during a drought, it just keeps going like the ever-ready bunny. I always pray that the sound of a riding mower in the neighborhood means some soul will take on the challenge and whip around the front and give her a trim. Sometimes this works, sometimes it looks unruly.
Then there is this wee strip in front of our house. Should be easy you say? Radishes, marigolds and spinach, and three holy hocks from the neighbors surplus of perennials. Small space, it was deceptively easy to weed - in the beginning! Then the seeds sprouted and radishes and spinach appeared - we had a feed, then another and then? A month of rain. Torrents. The weeds emerged! Thistles, yellow things that might have been a relative of dandelion only on steroids? Kosha??? WTF? Radishes can only absorb so much moisture, then they burst! And the spinach? Bolted like a scared pony! Oh dear. So a summer of tall leggy veg, the radishes kind of looked like a flower when they bloomed before going to seed, but the thistles ruled over all! Weed eater to the rescue! And the marigolds? They are like steady relatives who just keep on growing and bloom for all they are worth! Today the weed bed is unruly, but with a perky yellow border.
Now lets wander to the side yard - oh look at the lovely fire pit and the lawn chairs - so beautiful! That's because the yard has finally been mowed (nearly hayed!) and the majority of the apples - rather the windfalls - have been collected, bagged and taken away. The perennial bed? Now home to young mourning doves and voles. A bit of a tangle I'd say - but it's happy and who am I to interfere with nature?
Journey with me on a safari into the back yard . My red rose is full of lovely crimson blossoms. Living happily cheek by jowl next to two large yellow clovers. See where this is going? Crimson in Clover - over and over. The lily I planted with great hopes did come up eventually - a whole 5" in height with one large pink blossom. Which something ate most of the petals off of. Damn those Voles! As a side note - this year apparently has produced a prodigious crop of rodents. Mice and voles are loving the overgrown flower patch - as indicated by the cat presenting me with two rose leaves - and a wounded varmint the other day.
The many many sunflowers however thrive! Blooms are yellow, orange, rust - a plethora of colour! All hale mighty Sol! But the lawn? Ok it's green - again a couple of heifers would keep it in check. Our 5 grapes have gone wild - like undisciplined teenagers - they are all over the place right now. Hubster has a plan to control them, to bring order to chaos, and this fall we'll put up the camp,,,er I mean the trellis and arbor and zey vill obey!!
The veggies we planted there - lets say that a dozen potato plants yeilded one full colander full of beautiful albeit small spuds. The peas - yeah not so good - lots of pods, but if one doesn't pick them on time they become garbage. The beans? Again, there is that picking detail. The dill and cilantro and morning glories? They were there somewhere under the giant thistle patch. This my friends is why weed eaters and herbicide were invented!
But all this is minor in comparison to the strawberry and raspberry garden. Delivering us with buckets of fruit, more than we can consume, the reality of needing some strict controls has hit us. We took out 2/3 of the raspberries last year - it seems this is like telling a cranky 2 year old
No don't and they've shown us who's boss. So this fall, I'll put them on the block, "free to good home" and see what is left over.
No one can accuse us of being quitters! The reality is - we are not 30 and full of dewy eyed energy to garden after 8 hours in the office and an hour commute. We are over 60. We need a new plan. Now there is a new garden plot in the planning stage (the plot thickens! hahaha) where we take a few specimens out, destroy the remainder and start again with large containers hubby found on line. The Big Bag Bed. We will prevail and bring order to that dang garden if it kills us! Yes it's us or them!
And next year? I'll have a nice domesticated strawberry patch, a wee herb garden and a SMALL patch of contained raspberries! Ah spring, the handsome prince, who introduces us to his dashing brother summer, then the swarthy bad boy autumn comes along all in a hurry, while old man winter sits in his goose down waiting, chuckling....another year!
Oddly, southern Alberta is not generally known for camels, tho I've heard they were employed to take prospectors to the Yukon during the gold rush. And indeed some escaped, living like weird looking moose, until the last one was hunted.
