"In the spring at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt."

That's a quote from Margaret Atwood. A Canadian writer who looks very much like Barbra Streisand. I don't know anything about her, other than we would probably have alot to talk about based on such brillant insight about spring and dirt.

Yesterday I lied to you. I mentioned that I was about to do yardwork, but that's not entirely accurate because I don't actually DO yardwork. I garden.

Lest you think differently, let me assure you there is a huge difference. Gardening involves cooking large quantities of compost, bringing needed shovelfulls of the stuff to hungry plants, talking to and staring at the flowers, making sure everyone is happy where I planted them, warding off any unpleasantness (such as slugs or Japanese Beetles). I also search for new plants and then find places for them among the older ones, helping them to get established and get along with their neighbors. I find new homes for the ones that don't fit in. In this respect I guess I am more like a real estate agent or a mafia mob boss. (I CAN get kind of tough.) Yardwork is what my neighbors do. More about them in a minute.

As I've mentioned before, this is only our second summer in our house. Alright, technically it's the third, but the first was spent moving in and not gardening, so it's the second summer I've put concerted effort toward transforming my little slab of grass and foundation plantings into an English Cottage garden.

I've noticed I've spent quite a bit of time staring at and appreciating the area I worked in last year. Talk about delayed gratification. You spend hours getting compost ready, preparing the bed, planting, watering, fertilizing, and staring. The sweet little darling rose bush responds by sitting there for a year looking like a stick in the ground. Which is a good thing, because it's roots are getting strong and healthy so that one day it can support a mass of gorgeous floppy red flowers, so it's worth the wait. But I digress.

Last year I decided to start with the area between my driveway and the neighbors driveway. Our neighbors are a lovely retired couple from Long Island, New York, who talk very loudly and like to cuss you out when they are mad at you. Something I found out my third week in my new home. We'll call them Mr. and Mrs. Grump. The reason I selected this particular spot is because their garage is RIGHT THERE and they sit and watch us all the time. As I said, they are retired so I guess we're better than TV.

Nice Guy wanted to install a 10 foot fence, but I talked him into planting something that would turn into a beautiful hedge. We planted three skip laurels (Prunus laurocerasus 'Schipkaensis'), which have beautiful glossy evergreen leaves and will one day be a hedge about 8 feet tall and 20 feet long. Just the right size to cover up Mr. and Mrs. Grump's viewing area. Nice Guy pointed out that by the time the hedge is full grown, Mr. and Mrs. Grump will be dead, but I patiently explained we'd at least have a nice hedge. In front of the laurels, I planted three Rosa 'The Fairy' bushes. These sweet little innocent pale pink rose bushes are growing like mad. In another year, I'll probably have to start pruning them. I hope they behave. They certainly LOOK sweet. A true Southern rose bush if I ever met one.

Across from the rose bushes are about 5 hosta plants which came with the house. I planted pink lily bulbs a few weeks ago to grow in and around them. I moved a dark marroon Asiatic lily to that side, as well. In front of the very first Rosa 'The Fairy', I planted lavendar daylilies. The lily crew may need to get moved around later on, but for now I can't wait to see the show.

Now, if you were here with me, you'd be standing on the side of the house, so follow this neat little path of pavers I put down and notice the ground cover. Yeah, I'm not sure I like it either. It's chocolate chip ajuga. The least invasive ajuga, but it's looking kind of....wierd. But looky there, do you see the arbor we put in? Yeah, I know Mr. and Mrs. Grump have one too. Theirs is plastic. Mine is wood. Mine has my great-grandmother's climbing rose bush growing on it. Theirs has plastic pots of petunias dangling off the side. The Grumps like plastic. You can tell by the many plastic pots and plastic pavers and plastic trellises they have on their side of the house. Yeah, they like annuals too. And fertilizer. Yeah, I've never seen such a green lawn either. Yup, that's a riding lawn mower sitting in the garage. The quarter of an acre gets mowed faithfully by Mr. Grump every three days...well, he has to because of all the fertilizer, remember? Yes, they actually did plant golden euonymous bushes around their porch. Well, aren't you smart? Yes, they do get about 20 feet tall, but see how they have masterfully whacked them into round balls to keep them in check? Well, I know they look like a bunch of bleached blonde bimbos sitting there. It IS an ugly bush, but don't you think it looks interesting with the red salvia, multi-colored impatients and purple clematis? Well, at least it matches their personality quite nicely.

Anyway, back to my yard. If you look waaaay down here at the bottom of the trellis....right there, no right there. See it? Seeeee?????? Yeah, that. Those little itty bitty sprouts of green? Blue forget-me-nots....just sowed them a week ago. Aren't they precious??? Babies! Yeah, I know the irises are flopping over. I just put them in last week too....I had to get tough and move them and I'm not sure if I should whack off their legs....errrr....trim their green leaves. The frustrating part about irises is you have to plant them with the bulb showing or they won't bloom but that means they keep flopping over. I'll have to keep on eye on them. Might have to get tough.

Sigh....isn't it lovely? Couldn't you sit here for hours watching the flowers grow too? Thanks for stopping by. Come back later when the hydrangeas are blooming. And don't forget next year! You can tour the other side of my house and see the new vegetable garden and the perennial bed I'm working on right now. Ta-ta!

Saturday

Well, folks.....it's a bright and sunny May Saturday morning which can only mean one thing for the thrifty minded: yard sales. Nice Guy won major brownie points by suggesting we go schlepping around other people's cast-offs this morning and this is what we came home with:

- A heavy-bottomed Oneida saucepan which I will use to make soap .25
- A nice guitar for my little man - something he's been wanting 10.00
- a tall, clear lemonade bottle with a stopper that a very nice lady gave me after I oogled some beer bottles with stoppers she had piled in a box FREE
- a CD case for the many CD's floating around in our van .50
- beautiful antique sterling salt and pepper shakers (to add to my collection of tarnished silver in the kitchen) 6.00
- many, many educational books 5.00
- new speakers for our computer which sound MUCH better than the old ones 3.00 (I would just like to point out I would have NEVER noticed these if Nice Guy had not been with me.)
- a few Christmas decorations .50
- a new blender because I chipped a tiny piece off the glass pitcher part of our brand new $40 Oster 5.00 (and because this one is also an Oster the pitcher fits the base on the old one, so now I have 2 bases. Anybody need one?)

I talked Nice Guy out of purchasing a Nordictrak, a massage pad thingy that goes in a chair, a lawn mower that was only 2 years old and still under warranty (we have a brand new one we just bought last year), and a laundry hamper (also have that, guess who doesn't use it).

I tried to purchase a skateboard ramp from a kid who positioned himself at the top of it when we walked into his yard. He wasn't budging. He had several, so I thought he could have parted with it, but he has obviously yet to learn the art of negotiation.

Saturdays in May are also all about the yardwork, so guess what I'm going to do now?