Hopping out of bed to tend to the bed
I spend a lot of time outside before the sun is fully risen these days. This is due, in part, to having a 4-month-old puppy who needs to potty before I am typically awake. The other main reason is that, once I’m awake, I start doing things that need to be done. Right now, that necessary work is largely outside.
The project I was working on this weekend is a large flower bed in the front yard of my parents’ house that had been left unattended for several years. It must have been one of my mom’s most prized projects, because it was quite lovely at one time.
The flower bed is the length of the house and sits over a slight bank, its shape held at the bottom by a curved wall raised out of the ground.
It is filled with all sorts of flowers. Daffodils, narcissus, irises, wildflowers, poppies, lilies, and a few that I haven’t identified yet all popped up this spring among the weeds.
My mom loved her flowers. She planted them all over the place, and since the crocuses pushed through the cold ground late this winter, there have been constant blooms around the house.
Still, with her having been gone for nearly five years, and my dad chasing other pursuits before his death last fall, there had been some neglect.
Weeds, wild raspberries, and even small trees had taken root among the flowers.
Grass was beginning to poke through the weed barrier, and the rocks that had been used to hold it in place had been slipping down the incline, bunching up and making the top edge of the bed quite uneven.
I had been pulling weeds and immediately dumping mulch in the completed area every chance I had for the past several weeks. Quite slow going.
My sister joined me in the endeavor for several hours this weekend, and we were able to reclaim half of the bed. I discovered that I had grossly underestimated the amount of mulch the project would require, and she discovered that a praying mantis had apparently hidden a chrysalis in the weeds during their most recent mating season, as many tiny little mantises were seen and gently moved so as to not destroy them. We also found the antique garden harrow that once graced the bed and will do so again (though perhaps not in the green and yellow colors she had painted it!).
The progress was amazing, and with another day or two like we put in Monday, we’ll be able to call that bed complete. I am looking forward to that, being able to sit on the porch with a glass of iced tea and look out at the beauty of that flower bed.
The break may be short-lived however, as that bed is only one of several she had planted, all needing the same TLC. There’s no way I’ll get them all recovered this summer, no matter how many hours before the sun I begin working.
Laura Zoeller can be reached at zoeller5@verizon.net.