Getting started...

There are two activities I love when I do them, but which I have a hard time starting.

Reading comics.

And Gardening.

The trick in gardening is to start slow; pull a few weeds, and see where it leads. 4 hours later, I've covered a pretty wide swath. I'm trying to not overdo it this spring (? it IS spring, isn't it?). It makes me realize I'm not in the best shape, all the more reason to garden...

I'm also always amazed at how much I get done -- and at the same time, amazed by how much more I need to do.

I've mentioned before, my Mom, Libby, was a great gardener. She knew her plants, but also created a pleasant space. I think I may be more of an architectural gardener, if you will. I don't know the plants that well, though I learned the basics of how to plant and nurture.

But I love designing the borders and paths. I spent a bunch of time pulling weeds out of the lava rock outcroppings -- leaving the bare rock and moss, almost sculptural.

When we first bought the house, I subdivided "Libby's" plants and kind of just planted them willy nilly the first year. Unknowingly, I created a Darwinian situation. Some of the plants did well under the junipers and in the lava dust and others suffered. Some died.

Some of those who suffered the first couple years, have revived. Others seemed to do well right off the bat.

So far I'm just colonizing the rest of the garden with the plants I already have, plus a few I bought a couple of years ago.

So far, I'm doing a hold and defend strategy: I make sure the areas I've already cleared and weeded stay clean; only then do I move on. I tend to dig way down with the grasses, and where I do that, they don't come back.

The lawn guys just laid down the sod, and the three quarters of the yard I cleared are free of the weed grasses, but the third they did are already infested. I wish I'd been able to finish it.
I'm thinking I may have to pull up at least part of the sod, removed the bad grass, and transplant the new sod -- you know, twice, three times the works. But once done....

I got a lot done yesterday, but man was I sore last night. I tore off about a third of fingernail without noticing, and that's been painful. I've never been able to garden with gloves -- that's like sex with a condom, it doesn't feel quite the same.

Linda being out of town for a wedding, I decided to drink some wine last night -- only the second time this year. I mulled over my life -- veritas -- and decided that I like what I'm doing, I just need to do MORE of it. Writing, gardening, reading, traveling....

Going outside to do a bit of weeding -- not putting on my heavy duty gardening clothes, because I just want to do some touch up, and I know that if I have my boots on, I'll get carried away.

And then, tonight, I'm going to sit down a read a stack of comics....