I love flowers and I love the fantasy of
having a wonderful garden where one can wander about the paths and lanes
created artistically to keep the fantasy of a nature wonderland alive.
Crashing to earth, the reality is a lot
of hard work to get just a fraction of the fantasy. This year we experienced an outbreak of
dandelions as I have never seen before.
Virtually one half of my acre of lawn was yellow with the noxious
weed. I have used Curtail, I have used
the dandelion bar, I have cut and plucked, pulled and cursed but now I have a
field of fluff exploding and seeding for another horrific year.
On the greenhouse side of my fantasy I
have learned that you can steam the plants until they literally cook in the
clear plastic covers you put on the pots.
Where do you draw the line between encouraging sprouting and
cooking? Somewhere around midnight
perhaps? The truth is very simple, while
gardening can be fun and exciting it is also a very demanding hobby in that one
must be attentive at all times.
Gardening on a serious (as “in retirement”) scale is pretty much a full
time job.
Let’s not forget watering which is HUGE,
simply huge, in gardening. Hoses, many
hoses, are required to handle nearly 3 acres of garden plots. Not that all 3 acres are planted, but the
surrounds are. Hence the hose. Water jugs are good also, useful in tight places.
An extra pair of hands, weed whackers,
lawn mowers, spades, shovels, rakes, and lots of toweling required. Toweling, you may wonder, until you have seen
my face after wiping the sweat from my brow and upper lip. When my brother sees me he does the Nazi salute
because I am inevitably wearing a Hitler mustache in dirt!
But I am having fun.
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