My life has been changing, and the need for my garden to change with it has reached critical mass. This summer proved it. As with the blog, I was not able to attend to my garden through the second half of the summer. I can’t tell you how disappointing this has been. Particularly since the weather was perfect for working in a garden.
I, however, have had business and household duties that displaced time in the garden. Maybe it is my attitude that once I am set for getting dirty and sweaty, with all my tools out and the attitude that I will weed and dig til I drop, that interfered with intermixing it with getting dressed for going into town for banking, etc. that headed off garden plans at the pass.
Or maybe the fact that I had to pay more attention to getting the shopping done and the meals on the table when others in the family were scraping and painting. Probably, just all those things, but the garden will have to change. I have to have a less maintenance-hungry garden. That will mean less perennials, more groundcover, and mulching. It means that I cannot get started on a renovation and then put off half of it.
That has lead to overwhelming weed invasions. What to do? Adjust the plans, and adjust the gardens. I think my winter will need to be full of thinking time to reassess where gardening fits into my life. When the children were all little it was the ideal answer to a creative hobby for me, as well as a way to improve the property, but complicated gardens need attention that I cannot now give, and some of the plantings grew away from me in size and spread. It is time for change, and I am ready for it. My body will no longer take the punishing hard manual labor…. so I need to rethink tools and methods, as well. I think I need to relax my view of style, as well: more green and texture. I am ready for the New American style that is seen everywhere in landscapes: using more grasses and the casual plantings that look so good with those.
It is back to the drawing board for me.
But I like that sort of challenge…sure beats trying to pry thistles, dandelions, and burdock out of the ground.
