Digging in the dirt

One of my many goals for 2020 was to devote more time to Next Year, my garden.  I love gardening and beautiful gardens!  One of the many (hard) lessons I have learned:  beautiful, productive gardens don't just happen.  There is mega planning and work involved in a garden.

This is a my curb garden.  It started because there was a huge patch of Johnson grass growing in the lawn.  Applejack dug up the Johnson grass and the area was replaced with bargain and shared plants.

Many people in our neighborhood walk in the evenings, sometimes I see them pause and smell the flowers.

I have high hopes and big dreams for this curb garden.  The plan is for it to be a three season garden:  daffodils and Iris in the spring, daylilies, coneflower, blue salvia and hydrangea for the summer and chrysanthemum in the fall.  

This is oak leaf hydrangea, big and beautiful and one of my favorites.  The next door neighbor hates it.  He has been caught red handed trimming it!

The raised bed vegetable garden.  AppleJack and I built this two years ago.  Yes, more than half the soil which fills the bed came from our very own compost pile.  The first year we planted this garden, the deer saw a sign which said:  "the smorgasbord at Next Year is open, come on down."  They ate everything but the stems!  Deer are not welcome at my house.

War was declared!  Up went the fencing and the bed is regularly sprayed with a deer repellent (stinky stuff).  The bed is planted with beans, sweet potato, peppers, basil and bargain vinca from Walmart for some color.

Flowers (perennials) are like treasured friends anxiously awaiting to greet me with a smile.

No green thumbs, just brown hands from digging in the dirt.  My fingernails are not manicured but stained, my yard clothes are tattered, torn and stained from nurturing the garden.  My garden, like me, will always be a work in progress.

Gardening, good for the body a balm for the soul.