Spring Gardening Finally!
Oh it's that time of year when I love to get out in the garden seeing all the spring bulbs pushing up through the cool earth. I have said it before that in addition to loving to cook, I love to garden. It's a toss up which is my favorite but I can garden for hours not realizing how long I've been in my garden. Time just stops when I am in my garden. I am truly in the present moment when I garden.
The weather hasn't been cooperating in New England this past winter and also this spring. Spring so far has been cold except this past weekend. Picture perfect spring days sunny with temperatures in the sixties. Did I mention just a nice light breeze gently blowing. Yes perfect spring days to clean out all the flower beds. In New England because our winters are so snowy and harsh, I find it best to leave the leaves in my flower beds as an extra protection of winter mulch. In the spring I clean out all the leaves and debris from the winter letting sun, air and water wake up the plants from a long winter. I must say that like clothes I have many flower beds, not too many!(Like clothes you can never have too many flowers)
Not only is the spring a time to wake up my garden, but a time change. Gardens are living entities that need to grown and develop just as we human need to grow and change to stay fresh. Maybe that is one reason I love to garden so much, I love to renew and rethink, reinvent and see the beauty of a new design or arrangement. Each year in the spring I look at my gardens, thinking what can I add or take away that will bring more beauty or more pleasure. Just like with clothes sometimes you think that a new plant or garden design is going to be wonderful and it just doesn't work out. (kind of like those yellow sling back shoes that the straps just won't stay on my feet!) On well as hard as it is you just have to accept the fact that the plant(or shoes) just have to go! Sad but true. This year like every other spring I have big plans for my gardens. Roses are one of my favorite plants, specifically I love old English Roses. I get my roses from the grower David Austin. You can order from White Flower Farms, Jackson & Perkins, or directly from David Austin. I can't recommend these roses enough for their beauty and ease of care. Old English Roses are not long stem to cut for display or tea rose which require more time and care, they are beautiful roses to just see and smell as I stroll through my garden. The David Austin varieties are easy to grow, hearty and disease resistant. Working on the roses this weekend all I did was a little cutting of dead stems and added some rose fertilizer. During the growing and blooming season to keep my roses blooming profusely I fertilize once a month and dead head spent blooms. Couldn't be easier.
When we had over seventy inches of snow in six weeks this winter I kept my sanity by dreaming about working in my garden and visualizing additions and changes. I kept thinking about adding more beautiful roses to my garden. Just a few clicks on my computer that's all it took to order more roses.
I am so excited! Six more roses will be gracing my garden this year, six beauties! I know just which garden will be their new home. These wonderful roses will reside right in front of my grandmother's hydrangeas. I can't wait to plant my new friends!
By now you know that I am obsessed with my garden and could go on and on. For now I will just say that I can't explain the pleasure and joy I received from not only working in my garden but seeing the beautiful results of my efforts. I get so much more than I give!
The weather hasn't been cooperating in New England this past winter and also this spring. Spring so far has been cold except this past weekend. Picture perfect spring days sunny with temperatures in the sixties. Did I mention just a nice light breeze gently blowing. Yes perfect spring days to clean out all the flower beds. In New England because our winters are so snowy and harsh, I find it best to leave the leaves in my flower beds as an extra protection of winter mulch. In the spring I clean out all the leaves and debris from the winter letting sun, air and water wake up the plants from a long winter. I must say that like clothes I have many flower beds, not too many!(Like clothes you can never have too many flowers)
Not only is the spring a time to wake up my garden, but a time change. Gardens are living entities that need to grown and develop just as we human need to grow and change to stay fresh. Maybe that is one reason I love to garden so much, I love to renew and rethink, reinvent and see the beauty of a new design or arrangement. Each year in the spring I look at my gardens, thinking what can I add or take away that will bring more beauty or more pleasure. Just like with clothes sometimes you think that a new plant or garden design is going to be wonderful and it just doesn't work out. (kind of like those yellow sling back shoes that the straps just won't stay on my feet!) On well as hard as it is you just have to accept the fact that the plant(or shoes) just have to go! Sad but true. This year like every other spring I have big plans for my gardens. Roses are one of my favorite plants, specifically I love old English Roses. I get my roses from the grower David Austin. You can order from White Flower Farms, Jackson & Perkins, or directly from David Austin. I can't recommend these roses enough for their beauty and ease of care. Old English Roses are not long stem to cut for display or tea rose which require more time and care, they are beautiful roses to just see and smell as I stroll through my garden. The David Austin varieties are easy to grow, hearty and disease resistant. Working on the roses this weekend all I did was a little cutting of dead stems and added some rose fertilizer. During the growing and blooming season to keep my roses blooming profusely I fertilize once a month and dead head spent blooms. Couldn't be easier.
When we had over seventy inches of snow in six weeks this winter I kept my sanity by dreaming about working in my garden and visualizing additions and changes. I kept thinking about adding more beautiful roses to my garden. Just a few clicks on my computer that's all it took to order more roses.
I am so excited! Six more roses will be gracing my garden this year, six beauties! I know just which garden will be their new home. These wonderful roses will reside right in front of my grandmother's hydrangeas. I can't wait to plant my new friends!
By now you know that I am obsessed with my garden and could go on and on. For now I will just say that I can't explain the pleasure and joy I received from not only working in my garden but seeing the beautiful results of my efforts. I get so much more than I give!
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