Yesterday I spent the afternoon in the garden. It was gloriously sunny, as it has been all week, which I love, though it is dangerous with my Lupus. (Another post on Lupus and sunlight at some point.) I had a bunch of living herbs to repot from my initial massive grocery delivery, and the baby pea plants my friend had brought. Plus, since I’d been in the hospital twice and had surgery this winter, I hadn’t touched anything since early November. It needed a lot of love– and still does, but I’ve made a start.
It’s so nice to be home, just home, to be able to work on things that I care about and bring me simple pleasure. I love digging in dirt, planting and weeding and pruning, feeling the fresh air and the warm sun, and the muscle ache at the end of the day. (So many weeding aches!) When I was writing last summer, it was the perfect way to think between sections, get space from the material and then returned refreshed. I am hoping it will carry me through the writing now, too. And it will give me some nice fresh veg and herbs to use cooking!
I set up a little planting stand on the lawn between my office and the patio, so the compost scatter could fall through and benefit the grass, which I’m still trying to develop– it’s very patchy. I had been borrowing the neighbour’s mower, but she moved away in December, so I’ve made the investment of actually buying my own lawn mower, and it arrives on Tuesday. (Argos is still operating deliveries, no contact.) That will help it develop as I sew new seed next week. The forsythia is in full bloom, and the one random tulip in the bed is fully open. I started spreading last year’s exhausted compost from the potted veg over the bed– this is my new method of combatting the hated stones.
The hated stones are the “stone mulch” which was covering the bed when I moved in. Someone before me had decided to stone the beds to stop weeds, but they hadn’t used enough to actually stop the weeds. Instead, there is a layer of pebble which makes it incredibly challenging to weed, but still lets the little buggers through. And man, those stones hurt, even with gardening gloves on! How I hate the stones… Now, I’m hoping to bury them beneath layers of better soil, to act as beneficial drainage beneath the ground, eventually. Hoping the plan works.
Even Lyra, the cat, decided it was time for the garden in the late afternoon! Last summer she was quite the adventure kitty, but she’s gotten a bit sedentary over the winter. I hope she decides to venture out more as it warms up outside.
I have lots of seeds to plant, but I’m afraid I’m running low on compost… thinking about starting my own compost maker, but either way in the meantime I’m going to need more compost sooner rather than later. Hmmmm…. Will report back with progress.
This Isolation Life 
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