On it, not in it

The garden has been on my mind a lot lately.  I am within days of handing in my super secret project, and even though I need to pour all my efforts into the final touches and stay focused for just a bit longer, my mind is wandering out to the garden.  Thoughts pop into my head –  “oh I must do this…” and “I can’t forget to do that.”

Unless l write these down immediately they either linger in my head as I begin to ponder the best way to do that, and all the ins and outs of what needs to be done to get this just right. I find myself staring out the window in what would seem like a daydream, sapping up my precious and extremely limited time to finish the task at hand.  Or it is in one ear, rattled around my brain for a bit and then “poof” gone out the other ear, never to be remembered again, except for the vague feeling there was something I meant to do that will be nagging at me for months to come.

Have been in the garden in the last week – but not for much longer than about 5 minutes at a time to a pull a carrot for tea or just wander about a bit to clear my head.   The clearing the head isn’t really working.   When I see the enormity of about 6 weeks worth of unintentional neglect, my head is fueled with desire to get stuck in and take charge and mental lists are drawn up and tucked away for later use.

However my head actually needs to be cleared of clutter in order to see the task at hand through to the end.  Being in the garden doesn’t clear the head in the desired way.   Even my sleep is full of the garden as I dream about it in sunnier days or sit bolt upright at 3 am mortified that I haven’t got my leeks in yet!

The great thing is my deadline is looming and then I am free to be in the garden.  I checked the weather for next week and there were more bright sunshines in a row than I’ve seen since the heady days of summer.  I’m too afraid to re-check it because at this time of year it seems to change several times a day!

As tempting as it is to collate my list here and now, it would take me into a magical place far, far away from where I need to be now.  For now, I need to knuckle down, stay focussed and get the job at hand done to a level I will feel proud of.  Then I can turn my attentions to my poor neglected garden and become proud of that once more.

Come again soon – there will be so much gardening goodness going on I won’t know where to start to tell you.

Sarah the Gardener  : o)