Spring Gardening Begins
We have finally been blessed with 60 degree weather. This means I’ve been getting outside and starting on the yard and gardening chores. As is usual for me in the Spring, I’ve been making many mental resolutions to keep my yard looking beautiful. If I can’t manage that, I’d just like to keep it under control rather than letting the weeds run rampant in the late summer. I’ve been reviewing life and my schedule and figuring that I should probably plan to spend an hour a day outside in the yard.
Today I spent my hour cutting down the row of rosebushes in our back yard. Roses have to be cut back every year. There are about 10 rosebushes in the row and my mandatory hour was up about the time I was half done. I took a break to wander around the yard to see what else needed doing. There was honeysuckle to be cut back, strawberries that need to be unburied from the layer of grass that is smothering them, flower beds that need weeding, and garden beds that need to be turned over and planted with peas. Then in the front yard I have to weed one big bed, weed three tree rings, weed out the grape row, plant flowers in the grape row, and construct an arbor for the grapes to grow up. All of these tasks are March tasks. April will bring a whole new set of tasks for me to do.
I looked at it all and realized that it is going to take more than an hour per day. Unfortunately I don’t know that I have more than an hour per day to give. I love having a beautiful yard filled with flowers and plants that grow food, but there are other things which are more important. If I don’t do the business tasks, we won’t have enough money. I have to take care of the kids and the housework. I don’t want to give up the writing, not even for gardening. I particularly don’t want to give up the writing right now when I feel poised to fly a little.
I was mulling over this dilemma while wearing my rose gloves and holding my big clippers. Kiki came bouncing up to me and asked if she could do some cutting. I looked at her and the half row of rosebushes left. Then I handed her the clippers and told her I’d pay her to finish the row. She did an excellent job. Then I set her loose on the honeysuckle. She finished that too. I think I may have found my solution. We don’t have much extra money, but I don’t mind throwing some of it at the kids if they’ll do some yard work for me. Getting them to weed probably won’t be as easy as getting them to clip things back, but at least I won’t be in this alone. I don’t have to do it all by myself. This is good because there’s only so much time in the day.