The go slow

gardening with a pup

I didn’t plan on starting to tidy up the garden. It’s Sunday morning and I have found one of the easiest ways to entertain the pup is to let him loose in the garden. It is big world for him, my garden. So far we are both enjoy it together, despite him stealing my ball of string and uprooting a newly re potted plants. He is cute. I am forgiving. I have discovered that gardening with a pup requires one to slow down. If you have plans to forge ahead with some big project this is unlikely to be happen with a pup at your side. Pups move fast. They find things that their older siblings have either lost interest in or have been advised that they are not the best things to play with. Then there is the involvement of pup. I can almost hear him saying “what are you doing here, can I help?” as he sits his fuzzy little butt on the newly emerging irises. Thankfully the irises are big enough to take the weight of a puppy and bounce back. There is also the complete disregard for flower beds. If he wishes to see Eos who is walking on the path across the flower bed, then surely the best way to get there is to directly cross the flower bed. My advise if you have a pup in the garden, it is best to have slow plans. Work on a flower bed that is going to need a tidy at some point. It is also a bonus if you have finally ordered the pea straw that you have been meaning too for the last few months. You can mulch as you go.

The bed I worked on had just enough sun on it to counter act the ice cold soil. My fingers before too long were begin to feel the chill. I should be wearing gloves but the only gloves I can find are my bee keeping gloves and while they are great for pruning roses words, it has been expressed that getting them covered in soil is not the best for them. I ignore the cold. I do like to weed at this time of year because I find the soil is soft. This means I have a better chance of getting out those weeds who have very stubborn tap roots. As a garden practice I have chosen to not use weed killers in the garden as a means to support the bees and insect life in the garden. For the most part everything balances out however there a few stubborn weeds that I need to keep under control. I’m yet to learn a better way of managing them aside from digging them out. This bed has a perennial sweet pea that I, in my garden naivety, kept when I should have disposed off. Today I dig out the mighty tap root that comes with them as I do so I am pretty sure despite my best attempts today I will be doing so again next year. Progress can sometimes be slow in the garden.

As I weed I do an audit of what is growing in this bed. There are two rose, one blush white, the other a proper red. Old roses that I am sure where here in the early days of the garden. The base of each are woody, knotty, with the grey green tendrils of moss growing up the side. I trim back the dead branches doing a mild prune as I go . The roses are holding on, only just flowering. It’s nice to still have some blooms so I refrain from a mighty chop. I remove the spent Italian parsley seed heads and see a number of seedlings emerging. By weeding the bed I hope when I come out in the dark hunting for seasoning in the form of parsley for dinner, I will have a better chance of finding what I need. There is a soft green heuchera, a gift from mums garden, which I have over the past few years tried to grow on mass. A few remain in a patchy fashion. This idea has not worked out as well as I wished, so I dig up those who remain and will pop them pots to replants somewhere else in the garden. The solomon seal has melted into the soil, hiding from the cold, with a few ratty strands remaining. These get tidied. Irises are the opposite and are standing upright in clumps waiting for the warmth of the sun to return. I weed around them, liberating them from the clover that I am sure will return which I am fine with. I figure the gap between now and when it returns will give other things a chance to grow.

Once I’ve cleared the bed I can see where I have gaps. I find when I weed a flower bed I have time to look and learn what is working in this bed. I need something to cover the gaps around already established plants. I spy a piece of erigenon which has found itself home there. That will work I think and pluck and plant some seedlings from else where in the garden. I imagine it all melting together in the spring. It is a bed I love when it is in full bloom. It looks like a woven tapestry of flowers. Aquilegia, Foxgloves, Solomon Seal mingling in a sea of parsley. I am sure the little white erigenon will marry in nicely. For me this bed is the perfect mix of planned and self seeded plants. By now my fingers are numb with cold. I quickly spread some pea straw and compost onto the bed. Pup helps, quickly becoming covered in straw. I am sure the birds once I leave will do the same. It’s time for a cup of tea.