Well we’re halfway through Spring and heading at breakneck speed into summer.At least that’s the case for most of Canada. Here on our Pacific Island paradise most bulbed flowers like snowdrops, daffs, and tulips are long gone and my hands are just itching to start getting all my veggie garden seeds in the warm earth, regardless of the age-old rule of waiting for Victoria Day. That’s for the rest of this country.
I know I should have been concentrating earlier on pruning the grape vines, and as I ramble into the orchard that goes for the bloom’in plum, cherry & peach trees too.
A brief aside here: almost a month ago as I stood there doing a 360, I had a profound revelation – all the trees heavy with blossoms (the plums smelling the sweetest) were stone fruit! It has only taken me 20 years to figure this out.
I should have done the deed with my trusty magic electric pruners 2 months ago. I should have weeded out all those creeping, ankle-biting, foot-tripping wild blackberries. I should have done a lot of things. But as the famous counseling line from renowned psychologist and psychotherapist Dr. Albert Ellis advised ‘don’t should on yourself’. Alrighty then.
So I give a big shrug and play catchup as best I can. The apple trees can still get a good tidy-up and I’ll just have to do a major fruit thin on all the rest of the fruit. Maybe.
Of course I have a multitude of reasons why the farm’s horticulture areas were pretty much neglected this spring. When it comes to priorities it’s Creatures First. Having a retirement farm for animals involves special care, food, meds, and lots and lots of lov’in. Just like our elderly human folk need. But my ‘animal farm’ submission comes later. The beasts are my excuse and I’m sticking to it.
As my buddy Daphne says, ‘focus on what did get done’, like weeding the garlic and the rhubarb patch and getting the mason bee lodges prepped and perfectly placed (Yippee already many of tubes are filled).
It’s the story of my life: get it all organized and started then…the proverbial poop hits the fan. Happens all the time. I’m getting used to it, almost ready for it. Almost. The trick is to keep my head down when walking from the sheep corral to the horse palace. Like right now, springing up wherever I look – lemon balm, flowering Silver Dollars, comfrey (both kinds), horseradish, loopy lupins. I make a detour into the wee forest – evergreen salal, Oregon grape, wild ginger… hmmmm.
Methinks I have one of those share-the-wealth ideas. With May 10th not that far away, the day that the Cedar Women’s Institute has their Plant & Book sale (Cedar United Church Hall, 10-2), my friend Jan and I (& a zillion plant pots) have our work cut out for us. Hey maybe cut some fresh rhubarb & bag up some primo horse manure (the resident worms are free). Get everybody eager and ready for their planting season, which is soon. Read a good book and watch your garden grow. Which reminds me of another great quote; this one from Cicero (Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar and philosopher) way back in 43BC, ‘If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.’
Those Cedar WI gals are ready for ya! And Cicero would approve.
Jackie with her new gal Nova underneath the unpruned ‘witch’s broom’ apple tree. On the right blossoms of the cherry tree.
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Jackie Moad continues to try her hand(s) at juggling several tasks through the racing seasons, all the while staying happy & mellow on that heavenly 20-acre farm in Cedar
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