Thoughts and Prayers

Thoughts and Prayers

Nothing bad has happened, but lately my routine has fallen out of sync with my intentions and the most the garden has received recently has been thoughts and prayers.  My mind is rampant and full of ideas and improvement opportunities.  My notebook is bulging with possibilities. I have lists upon lists.  Some of the ideas are major projects that will take large investments in time and money but will so be worth it. I can see the finished version clearly in my head and it will be wonderful. 

Others are much needed maintenance projects that I just need to get on and do before the plants suffer from the neglect.  These are also on a list.  I even send myself the more pressing tasks to my email inbox as an urgent reminder to get things done.  I like to keep my inbox short, so important tasks don’t scroll over to the next page.   Unfortunately, I discovered the snooze feature and have a streamline inbox and many task related messages are on a revolving system as they remind me weekly of the need only to be hushed away before the guilt of not doing the task sets in.   I expect I’ll get to them eventually.

Then there is the routine and mundane – things like  weeding and taking care of the plants I already have.  The garden is still abundant, considering we are now in the middle month of autumn.  The zucchini plants have bounced back from their bout with powdery mildew and are popping out fruit like they were never poorly at all.   A quick peruse through my old photos showed in the past they were still going strong into June so I should really send them some love.  The same with the peppers and chillies.  In our frost-free microclimate, it is the harsh winter winds that take them out, not the icy conditions.  This also means more time spent in the kitchen processing the late season harvest.  But after an already extensive season of growing, harvesting and cooking, the excitement has waned, and it has become a bit of a chore…  oohh, yay ‘another’ zucchini / marrow.

I have plants in the greenhouse.  Some are vulnerable seedlings almost ready to plant out in the garden for a cool season harvest.  Others will be tucked in the greenhouse all winter for an out of season delight.  A couple I have spent a small fortune on and that alone is enough to put the effort in to keep them alive.  This is where the prayers come in as I forget once again to give them a drink in a timely fashion and find them all droopy and gasping for water. 

I still have my handy helpers coming to help once a week.  They both give me three hours of their time on different days, and I work side by side with them.  So, between the three of us the garden gets a whopping 12 hours of attention. However, recently the push has been up in Room Three of The Palace clearing out the kikuyu roots while the soil is still soft.  It has been just over 2 weeks since the land was cleared, and the hidden rhizomes are sending up little green flags letting us know their exact location.  However, there are an awful lot of them!  We need to work fast.   So far we’ve managed to clear half of the plot and it is satisfying  to see the bare earth compared to what we still have to do.    Once we have completed this task, we can turn our collective efforts back to the main garden area and restore order once again.

Then there is always the ever-present computer gardening with its unavoidable external deadlines that sharpen my creativity, expand the boundaries of my knowledge and fund the garden allowing me to do the tasks and projects I’m currently overlooking.

It’s not that garden has lost its lustre in my eyes, it still excites me, and I  do want to spend enriching time amongst its greenery pottering away my days, but my schedule and a touch of MS related fatigue are standing in my way.  I need to be intentional, without stretching myself beyond what I’m capable of and just put one foot in front of the other and step into this new month with a determined resolve.   I need to #TakeActionInApril.    This will be my new thing and I’ll get stuff done.

Come again soon – there are results about to occur. (Hopefully)

Sarah the Gardener  : o)