Report From PIA – April 24
When I finally got into the garden this afternoon, I knew that I absolutely had to do three things: Unpack the plant shipment from Big Dipper Farm, plant the bare-root roses that were sent for my trial, and spray my weeping pear, crabapples and roses with spinosad to prevent damage from the winter moth caterpillars.
I did those things, but not in that order or priority. When I get into the garden, I work…organically. There is so much to do at this time of year: weeding, planting, potting up, watering new arrivals and preventing insect damage. If we’re honest, however, it’s not much different at other times of the year. When we get into the garden, there is always much to be done.
What I’ve noticed, for myself, is that I love moving from task to task without any particular structure. Once I sprayed the roses and blueberries with Spinosad, I took up my Cobrahead and moved into the shade garden to dig up dandelions and grasses. These have been bugging me for the past four weeks, so it was really satisfying to spend some time pulling them out.
This is how I tend to work in the garden. I start with one goal, and then move from that to whatever captures my attention from then on. A half an hour spent weeding here, a few minutes spent pruning there, and another hour planting, moving without a plan seems to be how it works best for me.
As I float from job to job in my garden, I remind myself that that there are many styles of learning and working. What’s right for the goose isn’t necessarily good for the gander or the goat. We all find our own rhythms.
Everywhere I turn there are emerging miracle, and budding problems. It could make a gardener crazy, or we can accept that we move from task to task as we see fit, and so be it.
