I generally enjoy winter to some degree, particularly if it snows, but with my new desire to set up and maintain outdoor gardens, I’ve been pretty eager for spring to get here this year. Living in Virginia, trying to figure out where we’re at with the seasons can be a struggle. There’s a saying, which I know isn’t exclusive to VA, that if you don’t like the weather around here, just wait a couple hours – it’ll probably be different. People also frequently joke about how we frequently cram all four seasons into a week.
It’s been cold enough outside lately that I haven’t really wanted to go out and try to start prepping the flower beds and set up a plot for the herb garden. Today, though, the weather shifted and it’s in the 70s. It’s a little overcast, with a beautiful breeze, and I’m about to head out and capitalize on nature’s generosity in providing a mellow, warm day in the middle of a frustratingly long winter.
Depending on how much progress I make before the rain that I’m anticipating starts, I may update with before/after pictures. We’ll see. I’m just excited that I actually get to go outside to do some gardening rather than being cooped up in a crowded room in the back of our house!
Whelp, the rain came in a little earlier than I’d hoped – I only got to work on the yard for an hour – although it can’t decide if it just wants to sprinkle or actually rain. The main thing I was able to knock out was raking out the front bed against the house and start tackling the bed between us and our neighbors. It didn’t really look like I got much done, but I never think it looks like I got much done after the fact, and I think the six packed bags of leaves sitting on the curb show that I did at least make some decent progress.
Divider Bed (Above) & Front Bed (Below)
It might not be as much progress as I’d hoped to make today, but hey, we can’t control the weather and it’s still progress.
Hopefully next time the weather cooperates, I’ll be able to finish the leaves and actually start defining where the beds are again; the running gap we used to have between the beds and the “lawn” (we’ve tried again and again to get grass to grow there, and it very stubbornly decides not to; I might try again this year) gradually filled themselves back in over the years. I’m also going to need to figure out what to do about the moles we have in our area. I felt my feet sink into the tunnels they’ve dug over and over while working on the leaves.
So, still quite a bit of work to do before it really starts looking nice, but it’ll get there. It should be fun and it’s not a bad workout either.
If only spring would hurry up and get here already.
My Therapeutic Garden 