It rained in the night. The weather station tells me it was over 5mm so a decent drop. It has almost been two weeks since the last lot of good rain. And before that it before that it was a week and the burst before that was 10 day earlier. It has been a mild and gentle autumn indeed. And it was jolly nice for it to only rain overnight and then be sunny all day. It is a gardeners dream situation and one I have longed for many times.
But it is Friday and the turn of the fruit section of the garden. But to be honest will all the effort of the week and the fact that starting the day in the rain dampened garden isn’t exactly pleasant. Don’t get me wrong – I’m a hardy type and when push comes to shove, I’d be out there in rain, hail, sleet or whatever undesirable conditions if it means getting things done that desperately need to be done. But today no one is pushing or shoving and I’m feeling far from invincible. Sometimes I forget I have MS and the pleasure I find in the garden makes me feel ordinarily normal and I may push myself a little harder than I should. And then my body shouts at me to rest. I’ve had this inconvenience long enough to know, when I feel the call to stop, I stop. There is no point being superman unnecessarily or a simple day of rest become several restful days and who has time for that?
I am still on the journey to Make May Count and while I wasn’t as productive today and the poor Friday bed missed out on little love – it is a hardy section and won’t mind it at all. You’d almost think I’d planned it that way. I wasn’t completely without a spot of gardening in my day. I spent some time looking into Oriental Gardens, because they are cool. It is weird to think in some gardens the plants don’t have centre stage, and there are even some gardens where there are no plants – just carefully positioned rocks. Maybe I need a garden like that for days like these.
I also did go out into the garden – just to look. How can I not? I love the way the raindrops cling to the plants in a way that looks like jewels have been carefully placed overnight!
The upside of the hard work this week, that may or may not be the reason I’m knackered, is next week and in the weeks to come, the garden will only need a slight tickle and as we go into winter the garden, with all 36 beds will become low maintenance. So, it was all worth it.
Come again soon – I’ll still be Making May Count, but just not on the weekends – that’s for family time.
Sarah the Gardener : o)
Good on you for listening to your body. Whispers can be hard to hear but they’re smart to heed before they turn to screams.
Sometimes you need to just look after yourself, even if it means doing nothing, which is very hard for me sometimes as I really like to always be achieving something! : o)
I could have written those words myself. 🙂