Gardening Challenges

Often times one does not see all of the hard work that goes into a finished product in the garden. If not for the strong interest in growing plants and designing how they can grow together in the garden, just grassing it over for lawn would be appealing. But as in any avocation, the hard work isn’t work but simply effort in pursuit of a desired goal.

Last year I suffered herniated discs at L3 and L5. This made bending over difficult and so as a result many of the annual jobs that I do in the gardens were put off. Fortunately this year my back has improved and so now I am trying to catch up on those things that went undone last year in addition to the regular annual garden chores. On top of that I have a large hardscape project well underway. But that will be a topic for another blog entry.

Yesterday I was weeding, edging and mulching a perennial garden. Early this morning I was working on the shade garden. There are certain obstacles to overcome in this effort. The mosquitoes, deer flies and no-see-ums were all looking to make a meal of me so I had to cover up from head to toe, including insect netting over my head. The extra clothes make hot work that much hotter. Gloves were needed to avoid contact with the poison ivy seedlings. With these precautions taken, I feel pretty good about the progress made.

Once the sun reaches a certain point in the sky, like the literary character Dracula, I have to scurry inside. Skin cancer is always a concern so better safe than sorry. There will be shade on this garden at a later date so I can return to finish the job. Once the weeds are out, then hemlock bark mulch will be applied to try to prevent future weeds from growing. A long time ago we heard of a local, grammatically challenged sign that said “We do bark mulch.” It has been a running joke in our family ever since. So, I do bark mulch! 😉