![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/IMG_91151-300x225.jpg\" "\\"Tomatoes")
<\/a>Smith: Lookin' Good!<\/p><\/div>\n
Since Smith is too large for me to be able to reach everything from the edge, I made two paths through it\u00a0a couple\u00a0years ago when I first started gardening here.\u00a0 Instead of making them straight I made them gently rounded.\u00a0 The middle section is an hour-glass sort of shape and the two corners have graceful, curved edges.\u00a0 I set stones down the paths for a place to walk and to give it a finished look.\u00a0 The soil I removed\u00a0to make\u00a0the path I used to raise the garden beds, a good\u00a0way to improve\u00a0drainage, make cultivating easier and allow for earlier warming in spring.\u00a0 Yesterday, I pulled weeds from and dug out the paths, sort of like giving ole Smith a haircut and a shave.\u00a0 Looks much neater, now.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/IMG_9117-300x225.jpg\" "\\"Carrots,")
<\/a>Please Ooo and Aah over the Very Vigorous Garlic in the back.<\/p><\/div>\n
Even the sunflower seeds I planted have sprouted and look healthy.\u00a0 I’m hoping for a border of one to two feet tall sunflowers.\u00a0 After a lifetime of gardening, I’m growing corn for the first time.\u00a0 I was glad to see its willowy first leaves, like wide\u00a0blades of grass,\u00a0happily growing.\u00a0 I planted a second batch on Sunday\u00a0so it doesn’t all get ripe at the same time.\u00a0 (I’ll plant a third wave in a\u00a0week or so.)\u00a0 Winter squash,\u00a0enough to\u00a0overrun the whole garden if I’m not careful, is up.\u00a0 I,\u00a0of course, planted a little more.\u00a0 A line of cucumbers I planted on a whim, are also up.\u00a0 I added a few more seeds\u00a0of this, too, filling in for a few that’s didn’t sprout.\u00a0 So thrilling to see everything doing well.\u00a0 I watered Smith’s residents deeply and mulched some plants I hadn’t before.\u00a0\u00a0Mulching is one strategy for keeping moisture in the ground longer, allowing me to “neglect” the garden a bit.\u00a0 I excavated five volunteer marigolds and three castor bean stalks to plant back\u00a0home\u00a0in the Lorelei where we will appreciate them more.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/IMG_9118-300x225.jpg\" "\\"I")
<\/a>Castor Beans (I made sure to drop seeds last fall from last year's plants)<\/p><\/div>\n
After two hours of satisfying, hard work, I toasted Smith, not with wine or champagne, but with a long, refreshing drink from the garden hose.\u00a0 This is a ritual I enact whenever I can\u00a0after working in the garden.\u00a0 The cool water on my lips, the gushing force of it on my face, the drinking, drinking, drinking until I’m satisfied, all take me back to when I was a small boy.\u00a0 Even the faint hose flavor is sweet to me, a remembrance of happy times outside in the yard when I was young.\u00a0\u00a0On many a summer evening, hot and sweaty from playing with friends, I’d quench my thirst at the outdoor hose.\u00a0 In the garden on Sunday\u00a0I didn’t propose this toast, but, turning on the water and holding the hose high like a wineglass, I could have looked\u00a0at Smith and said, “Here’s to you, dear garden.\u00a0 You’re off to a good start.\u00a0 Between the two of us, let’s see how many vegetables we can grow this year.\u00a0 Cheers!”<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/IMG_9142-300x225.jpg\" "\\"Weary,")
<\/a>After the work, after the toast!<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m a Happy Gardener right now. This spring, I have not been able to\u00a0visit Smith as much as I’d like.\u00a0 I often don’t get home from work until 6:30 and by then it’s too late, or I’m too bushed from … Continue reading