Did you know that April is National Gardening Month? So I have an excuse for my obsession for now.
I think one of the reasons that I’m so much more into gardening now than ever before is that this is OUR house. We aren’t renting.
I’ve lived in not-rental houses in the past, but I was in sucky, non-supportive relationships at the time, and/or I had an infant at home. That doesn’t leave much energy for, oh, anything else.
But this is home. It’s ours. We plan to stay here forever, or at least a good many years. I can plant trees and watch them grow. We can replace the grass with prettier ground covers that don’t require mowing, and not worry about what the neighbors or potential buyers will think.
My sister and her husband are always concerned about those things. They only live in communities with many restrictive covenants, so they won’t be exposed to “those people” (we count as “those people”). They are always thinking about resale value, so they’ll never do anything unique in their homes. They keep up with “important” trends in decorating, constantly updating wallpaper or paint or whatever to maintain resale value.
Screw that!
Our house suits us and will continue to be modified more and more to be just right for us.
While we were at Pike’s yesterday, Sam put a traditional gardening hat on my head. He said he thinks there’s some kind of law that says I have to wear one at some point. I wasn’t happy. If I’m going to wear a gardening hat, it will be something more interesting than a beige one. Maybe one like this?
I had a hard time finding gloves that suit me, too. Men’s gloves are mostly too big for me. The women’s large fit, except that the fingers are too short. The fingers end about a half-inch before my hand starts. I finally bought a pair at Home Depot that wasn’t too egregious, but they weren’t really what I wanted. I like the ones with the reinforced rubber tips for protecting fingernails. I liked the purple ones best. Of course, they don’t have purple in the men’s or unisex gloves, for some stupid reason.
Maybe I can find a site for queer gardeners with stylish gloves and hats?
Pike’s had quite the collection of expensive items intended to “squirrel proof” birdfeeders. Hmph. I do not believe in the existence of “squirrel proof” anything that is outside and contains anything squirrels want to eat. I’ve seen the danged things eating a completely empty cedar birdfeeder before!
During his visit with redcub, Larry mentioned “water worms.” They’re terra cotta worms that change color when it’s time to water your plants. I finally found some, but the company seems to have gone out of business. If y’all run across those, please let me know!
