A Good Days Work in the Gardens of Witchery!
4:05 PM
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| Forsythia |
Well believe it or not its almost 90 degrees here today. That’s pretty warm for April in Missouri. I got up at 5:30 went for a jog and a walk. As I walked home I discovered that my forsythia is still blooming and the flowering crab looks enchanting.
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| Flowering Crab Apple |
After my walk, I ate breakfast and went to go plant shopping with the hubs. We came home, changed clothes again and busted our ass in the yard all day. He cut the grass and put down some weed and feed. While he did that I had plenty too keep me busy. To begin, I planted a container full of wonderfully fragrant violas by the front door. Nabbed a pretty hanging basket full of hot purpley-pink trailing petunias. Hung those on the hook by the front door. The punch of color makes me smile.
Next I planted a big container of cooking/ magickal herbs for the sunny back patio. I call it the Kitchen Witch Pot. It has in it, basil, dill, parsley, thyme and rosemary. (Yes indeed they all have magickal applications as well as being culinary herbs.)
Then planted up 2 big hanging baskets. Hot pink geraniums and blue lobelia and trailing vinca vines. I save and re-use the hanging basket pots every year. I also planted a few more pots of parsley in the vegetable section of the garden and put in another rosemary plant down in the formal herb garden. I transplanted some purple coneflowers, trimmed back my roses and pruned them into healthier shapes. Staked the peonies which grew about 6 inches since yesterday. I use old tomato cages for that. It works great. As the peonies grow taller you train them inside the rings, and it holds them up when they bloom in May.
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| Formal Herb Garden June 2010 |
Then I considered the autumn clematis that was looking horrible and smothering the curved arbor with lots of dead foliage, at the front of the formal herb gardens. So I whacked that back- hard. Here is a picture (to the right), of that arbor in question from last June.
I know that sounds harsh cutting back that autumn clematis- but no worries-- it grows like a weed. Its tough and the severe pruning will be good for it.
After that I pulled all the dead foliage down and re tied the new climbing shoots, and raked, swept, hauled, planted, weeded, watered, tilled all over the yard and basically worked my behind off out there.
So you may be wondering…. What’s with the marathon gardening session? Well, I do this for FUN!
No seriously. I do.
Clearly I need to seek professional help.
Preferably at the nearest garden center.
Now I have another list of the things I need… and a list of the things (perennials and annuals) I still want to plant out there.
Here is a picture of me with one of the new urns I planted today. This will fill in beautifully in a few weeks. And be the centerpiece to the formal herb garden. I look pretty glamorous, eh? Hey gardening is not for wimps! If I was worried about sweat and dirt I wouldn’t be a gardening enthusiast!
So I’m wore out, got a little sun, and had a great workout. I do wish it was a bit cooler but it should cool off by tomorrow. My tulips, forsythias and lilacs are all blooming, the Korean Spice viburnum smell fantastic, and I still have 2 more beds to go through and about 6 more window boxes and containers to plant.
But I’ll get to those eventually. It only gives me time to plot.
The gardens will all be beautiful by Beltane. Which is right on schedule as the Coven is coming over to celebrate Beltane Day in my gardens this year. What will my theme be? Garden Magick!
I hope you get out in your own yard and plant something soon! Create your own little secret garden or a garden of witchery. Go ahead, put some of nature's magick back into your earth religion!
Blessed be, Ellen
11 comments
Gardening is an obsession for me too! And as you've said, "Magick just comes naturally in a garden". Thank you for sharing your pictures, and for the tip about keeping peonies from flopping over. I'm trying that this year with mine! ;-D
ReplyDeleteSounds like we've all been hit with spring fever. I was in the gardens all weekend. Yesterday, I moved some peonies and hosta, planted some herbs, going to try growing leaf lettuce in a pot. Today we did a major weeding job on the veggie garden, replaced some tulips that our good friend Mr. Groundhound had for dinner over the winter and bought and planted a Fuji Apple tree.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds awesome. I have to agree with LaTrice, I was tending my little garden all weekend, too. My chocolate mint is making a comeback and the snapdragons are coloring fast. Even my foxgloves have doubled in size! Spring is in the air! Happy planting~! Blessed Be.
ReplyDeleteAs I told a friend today, gardening is my coping mechanism. Clearly I am coping with a LOT because my garden is Insane!
ReplyDeleteI very much want to garden too! I'm new at it though =P I've started weeding in the front. We have some tulips and maybe daisies growing there. The problem is, we haven't worked in out gardens in FOREVER! Everyone in my house has awful pollen allergies. So I'm a new weeder, trying to weed around the roots of a giant pine tree AND pre-existing flowers. It's great fun! =) I hope I can learn some new stuff soon though. I don't want to accidentally hurt the flowers! D=
ReplyDeleteIt may be awhile before my yard looks good again! I am pretty much starting from scratch and can only do a bit at a time. (due to back) But whatever I am doing I know Mother Earth is thankful. So we will see what happens by Midsummer and Mabon.
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Kathy
Wonderful posting! Hoping you'll share lots more information about gardening too -- maybe add some homegrown videos about a Witch's Garden?
ReplyDeleteWe're a little behind you - way up off of Lake Huron, but I'm looking forward to getting out in our garden too :)
ReplyDeleteWhile yesterday was fairly warm, the ground here in MA still has snow on it ... out back yard seems to be right in the middle of a meteorological anomaly (snow's gone most everywhere else). BUT, I have been tending to my mini-greenhouses and the herbs and annuals I planted earlier and they are flourishing! I can't wait to get the moonflowers planted and watch them take over the trellis that we've got planned for our outdoor circle garden.
ReplyDeleteEllen - fabulous! I wish I had as much room as you do... one day. :)
ReplyDeleteAbout a week and a half behind you, here in Northern VA. Next week is the week Landscape Guy comes to mulch everything and put in some new ostrich ferns, hostas, astilbes, a few replacement gardenias and lilacs, and replace the pink azaleas w/ white ones. Just in time for Beltane! If it's dry this weekend, I can get out and wrestle the herb bed into shape.
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