It's been warm this week so I decided to cut my bush... I mean trim my hedge... clip my brush? Yes that's exactly what I mean, getting out into the garden. For the last two years, my spirea has been looking terrible due to winter kill, I nicknamed it spiarrhea because it looked like crap. I was tired of trying to reshape it so I manscaped it like a porn star.
Back to gardening, mostly it's just cleaning up, dead plants, broken branches, clumps of mud; however two days ago the first dandelion appeared. I like dandelions, I love the bright yellow colour, like little Sun's popping up all over the place. It means that winter is really really over here. They provide an important service, the bumblebees have come out, if it wasn't for the dandelions, they would have almost nothing to eat. A friend of mine who moved here from India, asked me last year, who planted all the nice flowers around our work building. I told him they are wild flowers called dandelions but sadly most people call them weeds and want to get rid of them.
Another thing that's nice about this time of year, I had some windows opened while getting caught up with my vacuuming. Nothing makes your house feel cleaner than vacuuming and having it smell like fresh air afterwards.
26 comments:
Your post reminds me it time to manscape, though I'd much rather have someone skilled at it to do it for me. Nothing as serious as the poor fella you mention, but a trim and shaping are definitely in order.
I love dandelions! You know what they say (whoever they are), a weed is just an unappreciated wild flower. Dandelions are so cheerful, whether they're perking up the rest of the wee...uh lawn, with their color, or delighting children when in their blow away fuzzy form (the flower, not the children). As for gardening, we've already killed off two potted petunia plants. We're going for geraniums next.
I've been sleeping with a window slightly open. I can smell the Daphne bushes in garden as they are fragrant at night. It's one of the best things about Spring.
I think dedicating time to your garden could be the most relaxing thing ever!
And then you can just lay down and enjoy your work. Others will appreciate it too!
Double whammy!
XoXo
The spirea will do well having been assassinated. We did ours a few years ago. Chopped it off at ground level. It's now 5foot tall and covered in flowers.
I love dandelions. Apparently you can make an infusion of the root to use as a diuretic. The French call them "pis en lit" which you probably know means pee in bed!
It's good to get outdoors after the winter, isn't it. We have had the coldest may I can ever remember. It's set to warm up this next week though. Hurrah!
spouse planted his vegetables yesterday (tomatoes and cucumbers). he likes digging. I don't like getting my hands dirty.
my lawn has buttercups and dandelions and these cute purple wildflowers (don't know their name). my honey locust trees are in bloom and my outside smells wonderful. the birds sing loudly in the morning.
I've had my windows permanently open for a month now. I have fresh air in the house and sleep much better. I too love dandelion.
Well. Walter, if you to make me a wily warmer for my goods, the least I can do is trim you up. Oh....I see you are up! Lol,lol,lol.
Around our house,Carlos is more of the gardener; he's good at keeping plants alive.
But I'm the whacker;no one cam trim hedge like me!
What is the temperature up that you can open you house and garden? It is to be 92f here today. I'm staying in air conditioning.
@Sixpence,You have such a good view of life. You make me smile.
Walter I would volunteer but even better would be to watch Maddie do it and then watch you take measurements for Maddie's willy warmer. Now where's that camera?
Deedles, you so give me giggles... of course those would be manly man giggles. If you "did in" petunias, that tells me something about your lack of green thumb. However you live in a hot sunny place. Next time take the pot and every now and again drop it into a large pail of water, let it soak for a half hour or so, sometimes watering is not enough when it's hot, the water runs out and some earth never gets moisture. Don't do that inside your house.
Richard, it's still too cold here to sleep with the windows open most nights. It sounds nice at your place.
Sixpence, I agree and seeing the results of your work also makes everything seem right.
Christina, I am hoping it will look better, last year it hardly had any flowers. It will be easier to cover in winter now.
I have eaten young dandelion leaves in a salad, you have to get them before they get too strong. They are full of vitamins, the animals love them.
Anne Marie, it will be another three weeks or so before I can plant anything. Buttercups won't grow here until end of June. They are nice but they are also slightly poisonous, try not to handle them without gloves. Ironic because we used to rub them on ourselves as kids as a game to see who wets the bed! Lol
Maddie, that's because you live in a tropical climate compared to me... lol!
Bob, I see what you did there lol! I do a lot less gardening but I find sometimes less is more.
Jimmy it was about 57 Fahrenheit but with sunshine. Sometimes it can be so damp that you have to keep windows closed even at that temperature. I can only do a clean up at the moment, I can't plant anything, it can still go well below freezing at night.
The last weekend of May is usually when we can start to plant a garden. Before then you are taking a chance with killing frosts.
It's not hot here yet, Stevie. The only reason the petunias didn't commit suicide during the car ride home is that Balder Half bought them, not me. It fooled the critters until they saw me. I actually forgot they were out there. Now, I can grow a mean geranium or orange honeysuckle plant. They don't need a lot of watering and don't seem to mind if I forget about them, even though I've been known to kill cactus. One day, someone is going to call the PPS (Plant Protective Services) on me, and they'll remove all of the surviving plants from my home. My thumb is deep violet :)
Deedles, oddly enough with age I assume, I often forget my house plants. I have "rehomed" most of them now before the P.P.S pays me a visit as well... lol.
I always think of dandelions as marking spring as well, but by the time they are around spring is nearly over. Summer is passing by way too quickly this year, and it is still miserable outside.
I foolishly bought a raspberry plant, knowing full well it will die of neglect. Hope springs eternal, I guess.
Old Lurker, I found it easier to buy raspberries lol. We have a bug here that kills the plant just as it's about to have fruit.. typical lol. If you can just get it established Lurky then it should survive on its own after.
Yes, there is nothing like the first open windows of spring to bring on a delicious sense of renewal.
Dr Spo, I was attacked by my first blackfly today, that's one of the drawbacks of spring around here. Lol.
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