Thursday, May 13, 2010

Late Bloomer

As I enter into the age that one expects to start thinking about retirement I find myself still having to work full time, but feel I am missing out on all of the things I had planned to do when I reached those golden years. Oh I dreamed of many things, travel, no alarm clock, weekends relaxing with a nice glass of wine and being a LATE BLOOMER. Yes you guessed it, I want to grow veggies and flowers. My daughter has a great blog called gardeningwithoutskills@blogspot.com and writes so funnily and with great skill that I think she will get a kick out of her mothers feeble try at blogging.


So..here I am at 62 playing in the dirt, digging holes, learning a weed from a new plant stem and generally loving it. My nephew came and built me a square foot garden ready for me to plant my little seeds in and my daughter bought me the Square Foot Gardening Book by Mel Bartholomew. Now, owning the book and having the SFG does not mean immediate planting for me. I have learnt I have to mix the peat moss and vermiculite and different kinds of cow and mushroom manure to make a mix that will make a perfect bed for my little specimens. What happened to just shoving a plant in a hole and hoping for the best! I know what happened.........


My daughter would be so horrified if my plant, that I stuck in a hole flourished while her's died the good death in all that beautiful mix that she so lovingly put together. So, for the sake of family harmony I am going to do it the way of real gardeners and mix the bloody soil!


This where I start, at the beginning of a beautiful friendship between mother nature, my lack of gardening knowledge and taking the time to reconnect with the quieter side of my life.


Somehow I think it won't be so quiet knowing my daughter's sense of humor kicking in at her old mom's LATE BLOOMER tales.