The Little Garden That Was

Jeff has always planted a garden.  He has worked very, very hard in his garden and it was always beautiful.  He planted more than a dozen tomato plants, a few cucumbers and peppers.  It was a happy, beautiful garden in the early summer days.

But then the hot sunshine would come.  And then the weeds would follow.  And the horn worms would come.  And the cucumbers would grow into the fencing, that was necessary because of the deer that would come.  And then the crops would come.  And come.  And come.  And come.  We would get tomatoes -- way more tomatoes than we could eat -- (especially since Jeff doesn't eat tomatoes).  Sure, we could give them away, which we did.  It seems, though, everyone nowadays has a garden of their own and really don't need tomatoes from someone else's garden. 

So ever since last summer, through the fall and the winter, Jeff has been removing his garden.  Deleting it.  It looks like it never existed.

He's worked so hard removing the blocks, the fencing and trying to level the ground back out.  Bless him.  He's planning to plant a few in just buckets or something, so this summer I may be the one looking for a few good, homegrown tomatoes!  But at least Jeff won't be working his fingers to the bone in the garden.  At least a vegetable one.  I'm hankering for a flower garden.  But he's got so many projects going on right now, I have a feeling my flower garden may have to wait.  

Overnight the stinky Bradford pear trees started blooming.  We've had these trees before.  I personally don't care for them.  They don't smell good and they grow ginormous and then split right down the middle.  No bueno.

But our tea olive tree, on the other hand, is welcome to bloom anytime it chooses.  The blooms smell heavenly and will forever and always remind me of PaPa Kimball.  The reason is that the very first time I smelled their sweet blooms, he was in hospice in Savannah.  The next year we planted two.  They've grown so much and we need to learn how to properly prune and shape them.  

The record warm temperatures are bringing everything into bloom early.  The pool is already filling up with the little whirlygigs off the trees that blow in the wind.

 Ahh, welcome springtime and all the sneezes and itchy eyes and yardwork.  It's not my favorite season, but it's darned near close.  Means sweet summertime is right around the corner.

Till next time...