Small Celebrations in Gardening

I return to gardening year after year because of the small celebrations each and every day. It doesn't matter the size of your garden or what you choose to plant, there are always changes, surprises and celebrations on a daily basis.

I am not a life-long gardener. I pulled weeds growing up sometimes. I appreciated the beauty of the flowers in my grandmothers' gardens. Fresh vegetables were a special treat when we visited relatives' houses that had gardens. I dabbled with containers and annuals early in my adult life. It wasn't until after I turned forty and moved to where I live now that I took on gardening as a yearlong passion.

Early in the week I celebrated the rhubarb. Our rhubarb is always hardy, but this plant creates a beautiful leaf color that brightens up the garden border. Yesterday I celebrated green onions. These remained in the garden last fall and JEJ harvested them yesterday before he tilled the garden. What a surprise to come home to the fresh smell of newly harvested vegetables .

Today I have two things to celebrate. One is the ritual of seed planting. The first vegetable seeds were finally sowed today because the weather has cooperated! They were placed in organized rows with markers. JEJ is in charge of the vegetables. He did his own sketch of this garden plot. The second small celebration was the blue sky and sunshine. It only takes a few days of weather that warms up in the afternoon to bring tulips and azaleas to life.

Another reason to celebrate gardening is that it trains you to pay attention. Each day I do a garden tour and know I will observe new growth, grieve over a lost rose, or celebrate the birth of a returning plant. These small celebrations give this gardener much to look forward to each day.

National Poetry Month, Poem #12

A Room in the Past

It’s a kitchen, its curtains fill
with a morning light as bright
you can’t see beyond its windows
Into the afternoon. A kitchen
falling through time with its things
In their places, the dishes jingling
up in the cupboard, the bucket
of drinking water rippled as if
a truck had just gone past, but that truck
was thirty years. No one’s at home
In this room. Its counter is wiped,
and the dishrag hangs from the nail,
a dry leaf. In housedresses of mist,
blue aprons of rain, my grandmother
moved through this life like a ghost,
and when she had finished her years,
she put them all back in their places
and wiped out the sink, turning her back
on the rest of us, forever.

-Ted Kooser

The Forgotten Plants and Spring Gardening Notes to Self

As the gardens begin to come to life each spring I have surprises every day. No matter how many garden journals I attempt, or how many notes I keep, during the winter season I just forget what I have planted. Each day now I go out and have this inner dialogue like this: " That's right, I planted tulips there in the fall." "Wow! When did we get that peony and plant it there." "Oh... that's right. We moved the plants in front of the hostas last fall and need something new there." It creates a sense of childlike wonder, but it is really pathetic!

Every single year... my gardening memory is like an annual plant. The seed is planted in the spring, it warms up and sprouts as the weather gets warmer, and finally by June my memory springs to full life. Now that I have a digital camera I do plan to keep better track of when things bloom and where they are located to assist in my annual winter memory loss.

Last year I reminded myself to dig up the tulips that never bloomed. They just sat in the bed with sick looking leaves all spring. Guess what? The same sick leaves are out there right now. I know those bulbs won't bloom. I also remembered some small spring bulbs were hidden behind bigger plants and I needed to move them after they bloomed. You are starting to catch on... they will be hidden soon.

As a gardener I always have good intentions. Right now is a good time to study the "bones" of your garden. Just as things are leafing out you can decide what needs to be divided, what should be moved after it blooms, and what is just a nuisance plant and needs to go. It is also easier to see ground covers that have run wild, weeds that have taken on a life of their own, and roses that need to be pruned.

I like this month in the garden beds. It is that birth of the gardening season. Plants change overnight and the colors shift each day. My gardens have already moved from brown to green to yellow. Now the weather needs to warm up! It was 28 degrees this morning.

Spring Gardening Notes to Self:

1.Take pictures of garden beds at different stages.

2.Dig up tulip plants that didn't ever bloom!

3.Mark a day soon to pull weeds. Fortify self with good coffee, chocolate, and deep breathing.

4.Just use common sense on pruning roses. ( I have read articles, studied pictures, researched online and there are many different opinions on pruning roses. The common thread is to cut out the dead stuff).

5. Visualize what each garden bed will look like in five weeks ( this is when my gardening brain will be in full bloom) and plan placement of annual seeds or plants.

6. Cook a favorite breakfast for husband JEJ before announcing that it is plant/shrub/tree rearranging day.

7. Harvest flowers just before they open so they last longer in the house.

8. Use sunscreen.

My gardening memory continues to germinate. I can't wait until May!

National Poetry Month, Poem #11

The Poppy of Georgia O'Keeffe
In the carmine extravagance
the skirts of a Spanish dancer swirl
flamenco rhythms, castanets
exuberant dancer
drumming her heels on a wooden floor
staccato barks, deep intricate guitars
the energy pulsing from the dark
surrounds and enters

The poppy is wide open
her petals curve
like the skirts of a mountain
filled with the morning sun
we climb
and reaching the pinnacle shout
like the flower in strict discipline,
in eloquent satori
in the wild grace of black and red.
by Janine Pommy Vega

This is an example of a poet responding to a painting. She is relating to the image in the painting as something else. I love the author's word choice in the first stanza.

Thinking Blogger Award

Thanks so much to La Tea Dah at Gracious Hospitality for nominating my blog for this award. What a nice surprise and honor to be recognized for making people think. I began blogging as a way to discipline myself to do writing every day. It has evolved into a way to connect with lots of people, build a community of writers, and learn new information about a variety of topics every day. It has also made me think in different ways. The rules of the Thinking Blog Award are that once nominated, you choose five other blogs for nomination.
My nominations for the Thinking Blog Award are:
1. Raymond Pert's blog called Kellogg Bloggin' shares "stories, brief essays, and reflections that have grown out of a life begun in Kellogg, Idaho, in the Silver Valley of North Idaho." Through beautiful pictures, well-written prose, and Three Beautiful Things daily, the blog gives me something to think about each day. Oftentimes, there is also something to keep me laughing !
2. Silver Valley Girl's blog called Silver Valley Stories provides "stories from today and yesterday about people, places and things regarding the Silver Valley, a small area along Interstate 90 in North Idaho. It is called the Silver Valley because this area is one of the largest silver producers in the world." Even though I grew up in the same place, I have learned new and different information from this blog. She also includes Silver Linings - " good things are always happening around the Silver Valley. These are those "Silver Linings" you find in every day life. When I share about those wonderful happenings around here, I will refer to them as my Silver Linings." She does a Tree a Day post also. Again, I leave the blog with something to think about every day.
3. Meg Genge and Lanini Taylor have created a blog called Sunday Scribblings. This was set up to "provide inspiration and motivation for anyone who enjoys writing and would like a weekly challenge. " Each week they give a topic and anyone around the world can write, post on their own blog, then link it to this blog. Not only do the posts make you think, but you are introduced to blogs from all over the world.
4. Mary Lee and Franki from A Year of Reading have created a blog to "think about and write about their lives as readers -- readers of children's books, professional books, and adult fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Yes, we still want to try to have read the Newberry, but our reading lives are much bigger than just that." For teachers and book lovers, each post provides text for thinking.
5. Kerri from Colors of the Garden has a blog focusing on gardening and daily living in the country. Through beautiful photography, smart text, and stories of family and home I always learn new things about another corner of this country. Through the posts of her gardens, birds, recipes and other "snips of this and that" she leaves me wishing for more each time I read her blog.

The criteria for this award is to select five "Blogs That Make Me Think". Once tagged, if you want to participate, please pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging. You can link with the Thinking Blogger Award by clicking the title of my post and hopefully the picture of the award above.

The participation rules are simple:

The participation rules are simple:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.

2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.

3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote.The award developer reminds: Please, remember to tag blogs with real merits, i.e. relative content, and above all - blogs that really get you thinking!

Thanks to these blogs for making me think.

National Poetry Month, Poem #10

On Gifts for Grace

I saw a great teapot

I wanted to get you this stupendous

100% cotton royal blue and black checked shirt,

There was a red and black striped one too

Then I saw these boots at a place called Chuckles

They laced up to about two inches above your ankles

All leather and in red, black or purple

It was hard to have no money today

I won't even speak about the possible flowers and kinds of lingerie

All linen and silk with not-yet-perfumed laces

Brilliant enough for any of the Graces

Full of luxury, grace notes, prosperousness and charm

But I can only praise you with this poem—

Its being is the same as the meaning of your name

Bernadette Mayer

Sometimes being praised with a poem is better than purchased gifts!