Day 30 of the 100 day project
Well I did the time in the garden for day 29 but didn't manage to record it! But here we are now on the last day of the month, day 30, and I can truly say that whenever we have been here, rain or shine, I have engaged with the garden. There are three days when I didn't and those were when we were away in Devon looking after the delightful granddaughters. Sometimes it has been a single dandelion, sometimes it has been an hour or two of weeding and working, but so far, so good. It is too early to take stock I think but the garden does look better partly for my attention but mainly for spring.
Here is one of two little crab apples in front of the holiday cottage just coming into blossom. Yesterday I weeded the bed on the sunny bank here. This is the driest, sunniest place in the garden and the soil is stony and drains like a sieve. I planted three salvias that I had bought when I went plant shopping with my daughter in law on Saturday. I know I will not have eradicated the bindweed which I pulled out because I have been eradicating it for years but I have done my best to dig out the long, determined roots, again.
Today I went to yoga this morning, loving the fact that the cold has gone and that I feel well and energetic again. This afternoon I had intended to do an hour in the garden because there was Welsh homework to be done and lots more Spanish for the OU course but somehow one hour became two and Ian was pointing out that I was probably doing too much and when I came in there was time for Welsh but not for Spanish. Sometimes I think I am trying to do too much of everything but then when I try to identify something to stop doing I can't find anything that I am prepared to let go of so on we go, not doing a fabulous, really thorough job of anything but mostly having fun.
Today was cool but sunny and I worked in the cottage garden and in front of the cottage by the kitchen door where I foolishly left what was bare soil last year. Bare soil is an open invitation to weeds or anything looking for a home to grow in. I know this but it is amazing how often I forget that if the soil is clear, it needs to be filled with something and if I don't do it, nature will!
And as I was working in the garden Ian was working outside too. I like this keeping each other company even if we are doing quite different things in quite different places. I sat down for a minute by the swing and looked out over the valley. With a long and longed for swoop, a swallow came flying over the cottage and over my head. They are back. I do not settle properly into the new season until the swallows come and here they are. Welcome back to the nest in the stone pigsties. Spring is here.
Here is one of two little crab apples in front of the holiday cottage just coming into blossom. Yesterday I weeded the bed on the sunny bank here. This is the driest, sunniest place in the garden and the soil is stony and drains like a sieve. I planted three salvias that I had bought when I went plant shopping with my daughter in law on Saturday. I know I will not have eradicated the bindweed which I pulled out because I have been eradicating it for years but I have done my best to dig out the long, determined roots, again.
Today I went to yoga this morning, loving the fact that the cold has gone and that I feel well and energetic again. This afternoon I had intended to do an hour in the garden because there was Welsh homework to be done and lots more Spanish for the OU course but somehow one hour became two and Ian was pointing out that I was probably doing too much and when I came in there was time for Welsh but not for Spanish. Sometimes I think I am trying to do too much of everything but then when I try to identify something to stop doing I can't find anything that I am prepared to let go of so on we go, not doing a fabulous, really thorough job of anything but mostly having fun.
Today was cool but sunny and I worked in the cottage garden and in front of the cottage by the kitchen door where I foolishly left what was bare soil last year. Bare soil is an open invitation to weeds or anything looking for a home to grow in. I know this but it is amazing how often I forget that if the soil is clear, it needs to be filled with something and if I don't do it, nature will!
And as I was working in the garden Ian was working outside too. I like this keeping each other company even if we are doing quite different things in quite different places. I sat down for a minute by the swing and looked out over the valley. With a long and longed for swoop, a swallow came flying over the cottage and over my head. They are back. I do not settle properly into the new season until the swallows come and here they are. Welcome back to the nest in the stone pigsties. Spring is here.
Congratulations on the first 30 days and I imagine if you go back and read your first few entries they might show a vast difference in your feeling for your garden.
ReplyDeleteI saw swallows yesterday and they do make my heart lift. Have fun!
I do so agree that the idea of having fun is paramount and I can't always keep the focus on that when I'm really aware of the garden as a series of jobs ! I'm working on it!
DeleteI enjoyed my first swallow too yesterday, such an encouraging sight. Your little and often attack of the garden is paying off by the sounds of it. I just spent 5 minutes dead heading iris and tulip heads. What a difference it made. I didn’t stay out too long as the wind was arctic. First of May today, hopefully better weather is on it’s way. B x
ReplyDeleteWell done, I'm on day 20 of my project (inspired by you) and I must admit that I have already missed 3 days, but I am seeing a real difference to the garden and feel so much better for getting out there. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteI'm delighted and surprised at the idea that you are doing the same 100 days .That's fabulous. Hope you enjoy it!
DeleteI like the image of you and Ian working side by side outside. We do that too - I in the garden and Sigurd with hammer and saw working (an hour at a time) on my new garden shed. Your words "Sometimes I think I am trying to do too much of everything but then when I try to identify something to stop doing I can't find anything that I am prepared to let go of so on we go, not doing a fabulous, really thorough job of anything but mostly having fun." sum up exactly how I feel about these first weeks of retirement.
ReplyDeleteIt's not easy to prune things when there is such a strong feeling that, as you are retired, surely you have time to do all the things you haven't had time for in the past!
DeleteIt's so lovely to see the swallows again. They definitely lift the heart.
ReplyDeleteI'll be looking out for swallows. I definitely heard a cuckoo at the weekend. Needing those hopeful sights and sounds.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't heard our cuckoo yet. There is usually one further up in the hill in the woods but no sign just yet!
DeleteI SO relate to this sentence: "Sometimes I think I am trying to do too much of everything but then when I try to identify something to stop doing I can't find anything that I am prepared to let go of so on we go, not doing a fabulous, really thorough job of anything but mostly having fun." Yes!! And I don't mind being only mediocre at some things, if I enjoy the doing. . . Jill of all trades. . . ;-)
ReplyDeleteI think one of the things I carry over from my childhood is that "if a job is worth doing it is worth doing well " thing. It has taken me a lifetime to realise that sometimes if a job is worth doing it is worth doing, even haphazardly.
Delete