Enjoying your garden..

This practice has taught me something that is value regarding how to approach my own life. It is my habit and my joy to spend time in my garden. When we first moved into our cottage, the area was overgrown and the property had been used more or less as a pseudo-landfill. Using only our effort and some hand tools, we slowly transformed the ugliness that had prevailed, allowing the beauty to shine through.

During the first year that we lived in this place, we effectively doubled the usable size of the property. We took five full-sized truckloads of garbage and junk out of the ground. Every square inch of ground was dug up down to perhaps 3 feet, and put through a sifter that I built.

A tree that was maybe 60 to 70 feet tall had fallen some years prior to our arrival in this place, coming to rest diagonally across the property. The tree had grown on a neighbor's property, but had been left to lie where it had fallen, and a small forest of saplings sprouted around it, growing around the through the tangled branches. Knitting and twining themselves to the old tree, and holding it to the ground. With only a chainsaw and muscle, the large tree was painstakingly cut into sections and neatly stacked on the neighbor's property for proper removal. The saplings were individually removed with a shovel, trowel, and clippers.

To our delight, we discovered bulbs and plants that were carefully transplanted and nurtured, and little by little, step by step, the garden began to take shape.

Nearly all of the plants were transplants, rescues (from areas that were being dug up for construction and development), or gifts; i.e. The hydrangea were sent as condolence flowers to my wife's paternal grandmother's funeral. Some plants were brought from other states by family as donations.

Every plant in this garden has a story. Each one of them is a friend that I have known from root, pod, or seed. Each has been a source of joy when it has thrived, or tears when it has not.

A garden is a strange and wonderful thing. One must have a great deal of optimism when planting a garden; for one must hold a belief that there will be a time when all of the hard work will come to fruition. And it does! All of the sore muscles, stinging blisters, scratches, bites, and stings are well worth it.

In this post, I will share some recent photos of my garden, and some of the wisdom that it has offered in thanks for helping it to grow.



Sitting in the garden, drinking coffee, listening to "Sunday Baroque" on NPR, and reading a book is not enjoying your garden.. it is enjoying your coffee, the music, and your book.




Sitting in the garden and creating a 'To Do' list of all of the gardening tasks that must be attended to is not enjoying your garden.. it is planning your work.



Sitting in the garden and breathing... appreciating the beauty of the plants.. feeling the warmth of the sun, the coolness of the breeze, the smell of the grass, the soil, the flowers.. listening the drone of the bees and the singing of birds.. the wind chimes tinkling.. feeling the textures of bark, leaf, twig, cone, branch, petal, and stone.. noticing the multitudinous teeming lifeforms that cover every square inch of ground, normally beneath our sightline.. marveling at the intricate geometry of nature... and truly realizing that you are a part of it all...





































This is enjoying your garden!