I've teased you all by telling about a project that I am working on. I've only ordered one thing for that project and now I wonder if I should proceed with it. I keep going back a couple of years and remembering at the end of the season how I was so tired of dragging the hose and fighting the never ending fight against the Japanese Beetles. I really, to tell the truth, wasn't enjoying my garden as I had in years past. Last year was the first year that I simplified....not planting many annuals and really enjoying the plants that I had. There were things to divide...and instead of giving these divisions away...I found a new place for them in my own garden. I found myself relaxing and enjoying it all more. I came to question how is it possible to achieve a feeling of peace and relaxation....if I'm always weeding, watering, fussing. I felt like I was a slave to my garden a few years ago. I came to the conclusion that I had come to terms with my own physical self....knowing that I couldn't or didn't want to continue on with the struggle to keep it all up. It's a never ending battle with me....I have gardened so long and developed certain habits and ways of doing things.....like starting flowers from seed and by now would be hauling the growing plants in and out of the garage at night. By getting to the nursery and picking out the best tomato plants early....before they were picked over. By waiting until Memorial Day weekend to plant tender things. Then the frosty night would come and I'd be out covering everything. Just the thoughts buzzing around in my head about what to plant and where to plant it. Last year, with not much in the way of annuals...there was a peace that came over me. I was finally able to relax more and enjoy it all. This brings us to this year....and here I am again planning a new project. I love the look of tipsy pots. I was introduced to them by Lynn Usuary who used to blog about gardening.She had the most beautiful Tipsy Pots...all over flowing with trailing things. This kept going through my mind...first thing upon waking. I contacted her on FaceBook and she sent me a detailed description of how to make a "tower of flowers." I ordered a metal post to slip the pots on and just about then...started to wonder if this was going to be a lot of work. I read the comments about them online and found that people were having to water them a lot. The watering was difficult for some. The plants didn't do as well as some had hoped. I kept coming back to the computer and researching these things. This was to be the focal point in my front garden...what if it didn't do well, what if we went away and no one could water it, what if the Japanese Beetles destroyed it, what if the wind blew it over? So, too many ifs for me to go ahead with this. Here I go.....if I were younger, I would do it without question, but I have vowed to simplify my life and this is something that would take quite a bit of work and care. I really don't want that...so I am going to forget it and plant a big pot of flowers where I was going to put the Tipsy Pots. I just felt my shoulders drop....my shoulders are always the signal that I am getting tense about something. They go up to my ears, it seems, when I'm tense.... Do you have a body signal... that tells you when to relax?
Now, on to today.....it's sunny out. Joe said first thing this morning, "What's that bright light outside, Balisha?" I plan to get things done in the house and then go out and take a little walk around...to see what is coming up. I just love this time of year. I find little things that I forgot I planted last year, see how all the clematis vines are starting out, check out the lilies, are there violets in the woods? So, many things in a simplified garden.
Balisha
I have no idea why this looks the way it does....just something I don't get with blogger.
If you change your mind, since you did all that work already, what about lantana? It does pretty well in drought...doesn't need alot of water
ReplyDeleteI was just out with the grandkids down the street in the vacant acre next to the library gathering pinecones for container gardens ( a tip from Brenda at Cozy Little House ) and violets and dandelions for their Mommy
The sun is starting to show up here as well...I thought I'd never see it again, lol...what a dreary week it's been!
The sun came out here too. It makes gardening so much nicer. I really didn't do that much work. I think I'm going with my gut (as they say) and just forget the tower.
DeleteI read the pinecone idea of Brenda's. I wish I had known that years ago. I'll bet those little ones had fun gathering them.
Yes--my shoulders end up around my ear lobes too--probably why I have such a problem with pain in my neck and shoulders? I guess I was lucky--when I moved here I was forced to cut down on the large expanse of gardening I used to have. I find it much easier to use annuals. My porch gets to be a garden center. What perennials I have, are contained in two smallest gardens and take very little work. "Preen" and I are good friends. I got the flexible hose last year and that makes it so much easier to water everything. I'm still really excited to get my Stack & Grow planted. You live on much for "ground" than I have. What was once easy and delightful for us to be out, tending gardens, for 6 hours straight--now--just can't be done. I don't have near the variety of flowers I once had. I miss my Peonies!! This getting older just isn't very nice to us
ReplyDeleteI've never used Preen. We have almost an acre, so you can see why I get tired and have to simplify. I an anxious to see your Stack and Grow. They are really fun to plant and look so nice. I just bought the plants for mine. Different this year.We'll have to show them on our blogs.
DeleteI agree, Judy. I miss my flower beds at the other house. I have a square bed my son in law built for me for above the ground and pots on the front of the apartment but that's all. This lot used to be a parking lot and it is filled with gravel with just a thin covering of dirt for grass. I cannot dig anywhere without finding gravel.
ReplyDeleteI probably have about all I can manage though.
I visited your blog just yesterday and saw the gardening you had been doing. It all looks so nice and tidy. We all have to cut down and do only as much as we can manage.
DeleteOh my
ReplyDeletewe continue on the same journey
side by side :)
Much not going to groom, some divided
and just throw in the woods and for some reason they are content and come up :)
My shoulders
are right there with you and Judy's :)
We will continue on....
I had a few things that I just tossed in the brush pile take root. I struggle with things near the house and things just take root so easily back there.
DeleteI get so much help from you, without you even knowing, about how to pare down and not get carried away with projects. How to relax more. I'm so grateful for blogging....it has brought me friends to chat with about many things. Thankyou
I certainly hear you on the simplifying, Balisha. I sometimes bite off more than I can chew but I always seem to have so many ideas swirling in my head that I want to try! My garden is growing by leaps and bounds because I neglected it so badly over the past few years. But I'm saving myself a lot of time and trouble by investing in perennials so that I will have less work as the years go on. I've been good about gardening at the lake because we are only there weekends, I have to keep things carefree. So...with a little thinking, things can be manageable.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever tried using the Hometalk website? It's where you can go to with your questions...I go to the gardening section all the time. You might want to try that, ask about the flower pot stand...readers will comment and you might get a realistic view of how these are to maintain. Simplify but never lose your curiosity! ;-)
XO,
Jane
I think that I will always be curious and eager to learn. Thanks for the suggestion...I'll check it out. I won't be doing the tipsy pots...I just went out and bought plants for a large container to put there.Your gardening at the lake has to be simple...I know this from my daughter who has a 2nd home at a lake. She's there every couple of weeks and not there to water things. She needs things that are tough. We are always talking about what she is planting. She's had a wildflower expert from a greenhouse come out and sow some seeds and plant some things. Everything is a bit weedy....but patience is needed with this type of gardening.
DeleteQuite a few years ago, I added a dozen or so hydrangeas to my gardens, and they have gotten large and taken over the space. And lots of perennials. Makes life much easier...
ReplyDeleteI have been putting in some more perennials and a couple of shrubs these past years. Life needs to be easy yet interesting as we age. Just researching flowers and plants gives me something to do. I do love spring and if I couldn't ever garden again...a few pots would be enough.
DeleteWhen we moved in, I had a landscaper build four big (really big) beds with drip irrigation. I had lovely and ambitious plans to grow much of our food, since we're vegan. An autoimmune illness had other plans for me. After struggling for several years against more and more encroachment by volunteer wildflowers, I reluctantly admitted that I just can't keep up. Wildflowers currently grow in the largest bed, surrounding the fig trees, taking up the spaces where tomatoes, melons, squash and other plants used to grow. We've talked to our landscaper about what to do, and he's coming up with a plan that will include some miniature fruit trees and groundcover that will require minimal tending. I'm still growing herbs and a few veggies in the herb garden nearest the house, but we'll become customers of a local farmer's market instead of growing our own vegetables. When I finally decided that I just couldn't keep up the gardens this year and I had to concentrate on the smallest and most important ones, I felt that same sense of relief.
ReplyDeleteI too have an autoimmune disease and find it hard to do all I want. Sometimes I feel like I can do it and then there are days when just the inside work is enough. I feel badly for you if you are young and going through this. Well, really, any age is hard to deal with change. I think that your landscaper has a good idea and with your herb garden you are able to keep those fingers in the soil. Make it the best herb garden that you can. Smaller projects are what is needed now. So, glad that you are a reader here....as many of us can help each other, but telling how we feel about things. Do you have a blog. I would love to have more contact with you.
DeleteBalisha