Getting Dirty
Aug 14
Several readers have asked if I had considered doing an audio version of WSG so people could hear my scintillating thoughts and not have to actually read. I’d like to think my readers can read and want to. But I guess in this age of texted ‘thank you’ notes I should get with the 90s and do an audio version of the written.
I like to write. But, I like to talk, too. Reading my writing is not talking, it’s reciting. I sound like an incredible dork when I do this. But for your pleasure and entertainment, I will give it a go. I just attached an audio version to Art Think, WSG 40. I might even working backwards through the editions as Substack has this handy new button to attach audio. I guess they are competing with Buzzsprout? idk.
PS: I will add the audio in an hour or so when my voice doesn’t sound like I was at a beautiful wedding last night, which I was.
Gardening.
We hear about how great it is for you. I haven’t done much in-the-dirt gardening the last two years. Covid put us in Boston more than New Hampshire so I have been focussed on containers rather than in the ground. BUT! This summer we have been here more and I have rediscovered the magic of dirt.
We bought a house in 2008 that came with some very overgrown beds. Since then I have been nurturing existing plants, adding perennials, dividing hasta, thinking about what I could really do with this pretty spot up in the mountains. The ground seems to be incredibly fertile and generally wet enough. Honestly, this place makes me look like I know what I am doing when it’s really a lot of good natural circumstances.
My husband grew up in the country and his dad had big vegetable gardens. So, when our kids were little and we got this place he, naturally, wanted to do a veggie garden. Ah, the dream of planting seeds and nurturing them to produce our own food.
So, couple things: First, this is a second home. We aren’t here all the time. FYI, it’s really hard to grown vegetables if you aren’t around them daily and don’t have a watering system. Second, we are in growth zone 4a. Boston is in 6a and that’s still cold. Nothing grows here until mid June. As many say with a farm here their best crop is rocks. The quickest thing like lettuce needs at least three weeks to grow. It takes the fun stuff much longer. Needless to say, we ended up producing a lot of veggies for no one. By the time the green beans or the tomatoes were ready, school had started and all the weekend sports that seemed so important at the time were in full swing and the veggies went to the birds, literally.
We have not tried to grow any vegetables for 8 years.
I do enjoy tending the flower beds. I have created a few new ones and revived several old ones. Lately, I am considering more dramatic plans. In Bethlehem, NH Larson A Shick of Yonder Mountains nursery has created fascinating rock gardens. These aren’t your mother’s 1970s rock gardens but big bouldered sprawling numbers with amazing tall perennials and little tiny succulents. Here are some photos:
I plan to do some this summer but I cannot drag the boulders. I know someone who can…he’s out in the woods attacking the trees and has a tractor.
Back to gardening. To enjoy gardening in a yard, one doesn’t have to go nuts and create intricate kitchen gardens with paths and walls, or go crazy with lots of specimens. Where I am, I inherited a ton of lillies of different types and a ton of hasta which grows like a weed here. I have to divide the hasta because it overtakes everything in it’s path.
Have you ever “divided” a plant? With a hasta it’s quite physical. These suckers have thick bases and need a pointed shovel with someone to leap on it and slice into the plant. It’s something to save for the Fall just before it all falls back to earth. You jump and jump and jump on the shovel and then you shimmy and jimmy the shovel back and forth and jump some more. Shimmy till you feel it start to bend. Best that your shovel cannot actually bend because it will. I feel sort of pathetic when I am tangling with a hasta. In the end you come away with this ugly slice of plant. Dig a hole, put some water in it and, voila! Next season it will come up like it was always there and the hasta you destroyed will look like nothing ever happened. The Lillies are the same.
Or, for slightly less physical labor trim your bushes! The flowering bush will flower again if you trim off the dead buds. Also, Mulch! A little mulch goes a long way to make things look ‘on purpose.’ Buy more than you think you need. Finally, dragging all this stuff around is a kind of exercise, so it’s a two-fer.
Next time: A trip to Giverny! My dad and I went to Monet’s home, Giverny, this summer. Now, that’s a garden!
Get out there and get dirty!
xoK
PS: send photos of your own garden projects and I’ll post them on Instagram and maybe in the next edition of WSG!
PPS: Congratulations to the glorious couple, E and A. Your wedding was the most fun, happiest and beautiful I think we have ever been to. Long, healthy, happy life to you.
