Report From PIA – November 30
Here it is, the last day in November; I’m a quarter of the way into my year of conscious cultivation and my promise to post here every day. The forecast for today was for a warm, cloudy morning followed by rain and dropping temperatures after noon. Clearly, if I was to get some gardening done today, I’d need to take advantage of the weather and get out there early.
Taking my rechargeable shearing tool outside, I began to clear perennials in the front garden. This Black and Decker tool is very useful for cutting down thin-stalked plants such as Coreopsis, Calamintha and Nepeta. The garden cart was rapidly filled, and I began making trips to the side of the property where we dump garden clippings.
Some gardeners like to wait until spring before they clear their beds out. A fellow master gardener in this area, Stephanie Foster, says that she leaves her perennials in the garden all winter because, “Snow needs something to fall on.”
I choose to cut most plants down in the fall because, “weeds need something to hide under”. As I remove the perennials and what’s left of assorted annuals, I find chickweed, grasses and Queen Anne’s lace flourishing underneath. After a half an hour I’ve removed my coat and am sweating from all of the bending, lifting, and trips uphill to the brush pile.
It’s good that I wasn’t working at the garden center today, so I could take advantage of the warm temperatures this morning. As I took the last loaded garden cart up the driveway, the wind came up and it started to rain. I thought of a card I have on the bulletin board in my office. The card reads, When opportunity knocks, don’t be the one who says, “Will somebody get that?”
Today, opportunity knocked in the form of good weather, and I grabbed the chance to clear the entry garden. One quarter of the way through a year of blogging daily, I can wholeheartedly say that I’ve benefited from the experience – it has been an opportunity. I want to take advantage of as many of life’s openings as I can, greet new prospects joyfully at the door, and invite them in.
The first load is in the cart, the rechargeable shearing tool waits for me to tackle the next section, and The Dog has left his disgusting soccer ball on the path.
