TIME TO DIG AND PLANT

Making a Garden

HERE IS A BLOG ENTRY  THAT I WROTE IN AUGUST 2013

with some additional comments and  reality checks

Making a garden when you cannot dig a hole is  a difficult feat.

(you must RE-read the above sentence to  gauge the extent of my fantasy world) and how much I lie to myself.

I want to yell back at myself--

IT IS NOT JUST DIFFICULT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE, YOU FOOL

Here is the old blog entry as written--

Last weekend I got inspired by the Tax holiday and decided to buy some plant material  from garden outlets in nearby Massachusetts.

I drove over to the Home Depot with my neighbor--who also cannot dig much.  And we scouted the  garden shop.  My conclusion was that there were not enough trees and the prices were still too high.  Then I was inspired to cruise over to the garden  area of the nearby KMART,  and I could see that they were offering some real bargains.  So when it began to pour down rain,we headed home and resolved to return the next day.

And we did--I bought 10 plants--mostly trees and some shrubs.  My neighbor also  bought a few items.  We jammed them into the trunk of my old Volvo--it has a kind of hidden capacity to carry  large items --when I   push down the back seats and extend the trunk space to include the rear passenger seat.  So all the trees   were crowded into the trunk, and we were able to close the  trunk and carry our prizes safely home.

My next test was to determine how I would get the plants into the ground. My husband is older than I am and has no affinity for gardening.  But I  broke the job down into three events, and said surely we could dig  3 or  4  holes each day and get the  plants into the ground.

I cannot tell you what a battle raged and how often I  had to  implore him to try to make the hole just a little bigger.

Now they are all in their new spots.  It  looks like a garden from hell because they sit in the  midst of weeds and long grass.

My next move will be to buy many  bags of mulch and compost to encourage  growth and  protect them from the  changes of the winter season. 

I wonder how many of these  cut-rate trees and shrubs will take hold and thrive,  and how many will perish. But then again--I ask that question of just about everything these days.  It has all become so precarious and uncertain--and I know that we are  all perishing. But before we go, let's do what we can do.

I used to think that I could control and make things happen--now I see that was an illusion too.

Almost five years later and  reading this is discouraging.
 Now taking up the gardening without hole-digging  dilemma in 2018

   

Just heard LeBron reacting to the news that Kevin Love will not play in Game 7 in Boston. 

 IF YOU LOVE CHALLENGES, THIS IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY.

We could say that about every day of our lives. BUT  as we get older the challenge  becomes more apparent and the opportunity seems to be  diminishing.

Tonight I heard that BIG IF   in  LeBron's comment.

What is my big challenge?  To have a garden and flowers and roses thriving even though  I cannot do the  work of gardening any more.

How can I reach that goal--I can't do it alone  but I can get some help.
So I went on line  to a group called Next Door which is a neighborhood resource group, and I asked  if anyone knew anyone who could  cut grass and do a little gardening.

 I needed to hire such a person. They made some suggestions. I followed up and  a man came by for an interview. And I hired him.  He seems to know something about planting and he has his own equipment.  Two mowers in two years have walked away from here  because I would hire people who came by and offered to mow my grass when they saw it was high but they did not own a lawn mower.

OLD CRONE SPEAKS:One of the realities of getting older  in our  unequal society is that you  become PREY. So after one lawn cutting and leaving the grass  they cut on the ground-- no raking up --I paid them.  I could not walk around and inspect the job. They left  and they never came back. But  someone did --and someone  took  my mower away. TWICE!
Three times  seems to be  a charm-- because I interviewed a man who answered my  request and he came by with  his truck and his power mower and did a great job.  He even planted the 5 roses that I had succumbed to  and ordered from the WAYSIDE GARDENS catalogue,
THANK YOU, JOE!