Gardening Shame
by Douglas E. Welch, myword@welchwrite.com
Finally, the whirlwind that is the end of the year is slowly spinning down. Today, I actually have an entire day, a complete 24 hours with NOTHING scheduled. That said, it was also time to face my gardening guilt and shame. Oh woe is me! (SMILE)
In this picture, you may not be able to tell, but my lovely purple lantana in the front, street-side bed has almost totally taken over the azalea and juniper planting behind it. What was I thinking? Didn't I notice this battle going on in my own garden? Frankly, no. I was too absorbed in other projects and that pesky endeavor of making money. I have such base needs these days....food, water, electricity. I can't imagine how I never got around to cleaning this up.
This morning, though, I atoned for my gardening sins, at least in a small way. Joe and I worked together to rake out the front bed and the small parking area in front of it. Then I trimmed back the wayward lantana and removed one entire section of lambs ear. I left a small portion and I am sure it will be back to full size within a month. I also trimmed the lantana away from the lavender plants that will eventually supplant it. They are much prettier and a lot more productive for our family. My wife, Rosanne loves the smell and will are going to start harvesting it each year to use inside the house. If I can get my act together (HA!) I might even get around to taking some cuttings and putting up some extra plants to add to this bed.
My final accomplishment was taking in the majority of our Christmas lights. This sounds like a bigger job than it is, as I only put out a couple of elements and 3 strings of all-white lights. Still, I had time to do this today, whereas next week all bets are off. Rosanne starts 2 new university teaching positions in January and will also be teaching 2 online courses, so life is destined to get a bit busier, at least until we settle into our new schedule. Poor Joe, though, he pouted a bit and said, "We don't take the lights down until New Year's Day!" Oh well, you can't always be the perfect father, I guess.
One big reason for removing the Christmas lights is that 2 strings run along the driveway roses and it is time to do my major pruning. I hope to get to that this week, along with the first pruning of the newly rejuvenated wisteria. That one shouldn't be too hard as their isn't too much growth to manage this first year. I hope to have some video of those projects to share in the podcast. Stay subscribed and you'll receive them automatically.
Happy New Year!
Technorati Tags: garden, gardening, hobby, california, grow, DIY, losangeles
Finally, the whirlwind that is the end of the year is slowly spinning down. Today, I actually have an entire day, a complete 24 hours with NOTHING scheduled. That said, it was also time to face my gardening guilt and shame. Oh woe is me! (SMILE)
In this picture, you may not be able to tell, but my lovely purple lantana in the front, street-side bed has almost totally taken over the azalea and juniper planting behind it. What was I thinking? Didn't I notice this battle going on in my own garden? Frankly, no. I was too absorbed in other projects and that pesky endeavor of making money. I have such base needs these days....food, water, electricity. I can't imagine how I never got around to cleaning this up.
This morning, though, I atoned for my gardening sins, at least in a small way. Joe and I worked together to rake out the front bed and the small parking area in front of it. Then I trimmed back the wayward lantana and removed one entire section of lambs ear. I left a small portion and I am sure it will be back to full size within a month. I also trimmed the lantana away from the lavender plants that will eventually supplant it. They are much prettier and a lot more productive for our family. My wife, Rosanne loves the smell and will are going to start harvesting it each year to use inside the house. If I can get my act together (HA!) I might even get around to taking some cuttings and putting up some extra plants to add to this bed.
My final accomplishment was taking in the majority of our Christmas lights. This sounds like a bigger job than it is, as I only put out a couple of elements and 3 strings of all-white lights. Still, I had time to do this today, whereas next week all bets are off. Rosanne starts 2 new university teaching positions in January and will also be teaching 2 online courses, so life is destined to get a bit busier, at least until we settle into our new schedule. Poor Joe, though, he pouted a bit and said, "We don't take the lights down until New Year's Day!" Oh well, you can't always be the perfect father, I guess.
One big reason for removing the Christmas lights is that 2 strings run along the driveway roses and it is time to do my major pruning. I hope to get to that this week, along with the first pruning of the newly rejuvenated wisteria. That one shouldn't be too hard as their isn't too much growth to manage this first year. I hope to have some video of those projects to share in the podcast. Stay subscribed and you'll receive them automatically.
Happy New Year!
Technorati Tags: garden, gardening, hobby, california, grow, DIY, losangeles
posted by Douglas at 10:26 AM
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