Aug 02 2011
Update: The Garden Department (Part I)
Gardening is really not a suitable occupation for Self. It’s boring, it’s dirty, and it causes sweat, all extremely un-Suzy things. Also, the gratification is far from instant, and even instant gratification isn’t fast enough for me. I don’t want to watch things grow. I want them to look nice now. Preferably without any effort on my part.
Come to think of it, that’s pretty much how I feel about everything, especially housework.
I should have thought of that before I made fixing up the outdoor space (can you call it a garden when it’s basically huckleberry bushes, pine trees, gravel, and rhododendrons?) one of my resolutions for this now middle-aged year. I wish whoever my windowbox fairy was back when I lived in the T* made housecalls to Hooterville. Overnight gardening: that’s Suzy style!
With no fairy to be had, I’ve had to put on my lavender gardening gloves and get grimy and annoyed. But things do look better, and when I look back at pictures from last year, I can see, for example, that the honeysuckle has definitely grown:
Then
Now
Here you see an attempt to disguise the hideousness of the propane tank. I had originally thought of having a sort of hedge around it, but was dissuaded by the reality of having to bring in truckloads of dirt and having to wait years for it grow enough to provide the desired camouflage. Reality bites.
From the house:
From the driveway:
I think it looks better. Also I’m pretty sure the propane delivery guy (who waved at me from his truck in town last week) can still access it, though I’m hoping not to see him in his professional capacity until sometime this fall. I might ask Mark if I could paint it, too. Every little bit helps.
*Now, I realize, the Good Old Days. I never did find out who the fairy was, either.