Perfection is overrated….I don’t do perfection – not because I don’t want to, but because I find it utterly impossible to attain that goal – in my garden, my life, my blog, etc. So, I stick with the best I can do at this moment.

For instance, in my garden, I wish I had one of those magazine looking, perfectly landscaped yards. Actually, I’d settle for even a portion of one of those. But, as I prefer to do it all myself – honestly, I’m too cheap to pay anyone and, well, I do get some help from Pops, but mostly I just love gardening. I find it very meditative and it gives me a bit of exercise and, like a true geek, I get excited every time I see something I’ve planted actually grow. That feeling for me is priceless. And quite possibly could be that sort of feeling other women have when they give birth to a child. The I planted you, cared for you, watered you, fed you and now you’re grown and amazing and beautiful feeling. I just love that!

Bubba doesn’t want me to forget to tell you how much he helps too! For example, here he is helping absorb the sun…for himself, yes, but still it’s a help.

My yard is in a constant state of evolution. Things are moved around, new plants are planted and seeds are sewn each and every year creating a new landscape to view and cherish. Along with that, there’s a constant state of weeding and raking that needs to be done. However, I did just read how some farmers plant clover as a “cover crop” to help feed their soil and keep it strong. Excellent news as I have clover to spare in my yard. After reading that, I’m kinda letting it grow and focusing on pulling all the other weeds. What a small freedom reading that was. Plus the little yellow flowers kinda warm my soul a bit.

I pour over seed, flower and nursery catalogs each winter planning what I will purchase and thinking about where I’ll try to plant it. Some of my first newbies for this year are these dahlia tubers I bought at the farmers market last weekend. A bit scary as I had to take the seller’s word for how tall they’ll grow and what colors they’ll be. Kind of exciting too as I think they will really grow well where I’ve placed them and I’ll be excited to see their colors added to the yard. Dahlias are just simply beautiful, so I’m sure I’ll be happy with these. Don’t they look like little potatoes?

For the first time this past fall, I started some garlic and onions and also threw in some green leaf lettuce seeds. The lettuce has done so well that I’ve added these few red leaf ones and a couple of cabbages too. The garlic and onions won’t be ready to pull until fall…and it’s killing me to wait that long!

Also, last fall, we (and I use the term “we” loosely here) jack-hammered a bunch of concrete out of a small back area in our yard which opened up a whole new planting area for us. We were inspired by our neighbors and the amazing landscape design they had put in over the summer. We tried to imitate the plants they added to their yard – it really helps to actually see what will work instead of always experimenting like I do. Plus, they hired a professional – which is helpful too and, again, I’m too cheap for that. Their yard is amazing, so maybe I should reconsider my position on this being cheap thing – plus they pay a weekly yard man to come keep it up. I’ll admit it, I’m jealous actually. I might mention they have 3 small children to care for…so, while I’m jealous, I get why they have the yard help.

I’ve always had great success with herbs – I’m so glad I started years ago with these as they always seem to grow and my goodness they smell good all the time. Here’s a couple of pics of ones I love.

Rosemary
Cilantro

My goal this year is to “squoosh” in as many vegetables as I can and hopefully have them grow too. I’d also like to start my first dwarf fruit tree. I’m thinking of starting with a pear one. Simple reason is, I love pears, and a friend of mine told me the softer fruits can have more insect attacks (I was thinking of apricot at the time). As I choose to not use any chemicals in my garden, and a certain level of insect attacks is always expected, I think I’ll start with a harder fruit and try to keep myself motivated with success.

Here’s my current motivation to go out and pull weeds and keep it all going – a few of the “early” bloomers showing their colors right now in my garden. Soon, I’ll post photos of the flowers that will bloom from the many bulbs I planted in fall – right now, they’re just peeking up and there’s not much to see yet.

We also got a new beehive this year. No bees yet – I have to paint something fun on their new home first. I love having bees! Last year a friend of ours put her 2 hives here and my garden went crazy with flowers. Notice the level on top. We had to be sure that the hive was placed level – or at least if it was to lean it needs to lean forward not back. Not sure why yet, but I’ll find out.

After writing this, I guess you could say, my yard is perfect…well, perfect for me… oh and this guy

and truly, his happiness makes it all worth it for me!

Lita