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A Curmudgeonly Gardener

15.01.11 | Ilona Erwin | 5 Comments

It could be blamed on the time of year, or it could be blamed on being cooped up in winter’s closed quarters. Or it might be the frustrated attempts to figure out yet another snafu in the maze of computer troubleshooting. It doesn’t really matter the reason, but I find everything a bit unnerving and irritating. Because of that it seems that many of my fellow gardeners seem much too optimistic…with pollyanna tweets and cheery reminders that spring is coming.

Harumph.

“A long way off” I feel like muttering.

I admit that I usually try to write about the bright side of things, myself …always another season, the silver lining, how cute the squirrel is, even though you know he just spent the last few months devouring all your crocus bulbs as appetizers to the main course of the tulips. As a gardener you try to flow with nature, but sometimes nature isn’t so easy to get along with.

So I’m irritated. Not at the squirrel who is just trying to indulge in a well stocked larder, but at myself. At the limitations and the foolish expectations, and let’s face it…. from a deficiency of sunlight. I haven’t been out in the garden for several months, at least nothing to speak of, and the skies have been mantled with gray for just a little too long.

So with the holidays behind, and nothing very cheering in the foreseeable short term, I will just grouse a bit and hope that somebody sends me a garden catalog soon. I sure need something to break the cycle of this grumpy winter stalled gardeneropath.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ // ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
© 2010 written for Ilona’s Garden Journal. Copyrights apply.
The image is the original art of olivamoon, whose etsy shops holds lovely little sculpture and other delights.

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About Ilona Erwin

I was a garden blog pioneer, and began writing on this blog in 2003. Before that I had begun a garden website that has been at its own domain since 2006, Ilona's Garden.

I still love writing, gardening, and art after all these years, although travel and grandchildren have become a big part of my life, now.

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Comments

  1. Kylee says

    January 15, 2011 at 5:20 pm

    I’m usually a cheery one myself, but I also understand this rant, and have to say I’ve had more than a few days of feeling this way lately. I’m tired of winter. I want spring and save for some buds on the pussy willows and the indoor blooms, there isn’t much of it to be seen around these parts. If misery loves company, I’m willing to sit on that fence with you.

  2. Hocking Hills Gardener says

    January 15, 2011 at 6:17 pm

    LOL! I feel your pain Ilona. It is hard to be perky when it is all white and grays outside and you are right Spring is too far off yet for my liking. So maybe I am a Curmudgeonly Gardner too. 🙂 I am definitely not a winter person that is a for sure. I have received about 15 catalogs so far. I think they got my address. I could send you some. 🙂

  3. Angela (Cottage Magpie) says

    January 20, 2011 at 7:40 am

    You are so speaking my language! I get SO crabby this time of year. I don’t mind going out in poor weather, but the soil is so saturated that I couldn’t do anything even if I wanted to. I just want to get out there and get at it! Somehow the closer Spring gets, the harder it is to wait.
    Best,

    ~Angela~

  4. Ilona says

    January 20, 2011 at 5:14 pm

    Thanks for commiserating with curmugeonly me, garden friends 🙂 It is not quite so bad today, but we are getting more snow and this is seeming like a very long winter.{Kylee}

    Lona! yes… I’ll meetup with you or give my address – would like some catalogs, actually, if you have them to spare 🙂

    Angela,I think that is the formula- the closer spring gets the more I chomp at the bit….

  5. joene says

    January 20, 2011 at 10:56 pm

    I don’t ususlaly feel this way until February, which is right around the corner. I so understand, even though I enjoy winter. I try to visit a good old-fashioned garden center – one with tons of plants nestled tightly in a warm greenhouse. This usually cheers me up.

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I was a garden blog pioneer, and began writing on this blog in 2003. Before that I had begun a garden website that has been at its own domain since 2006, Ilona's Garden.

I still love writing, gardening, and art after all these years, although travel and grandchildren have become a big part of my life, now.

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