I like to watch the grackles puff up their feathers and walk funny to attract a mate. It gets me every time. It’s not quite as ostentatious as a bird of paradise, but amusing just the same.The grackles have been putting on quite a show here lately, even clumsily attempting their display from the tippy-top dead branches of the apple tree.
Today, I really need to outline my goals for the next month. I have been so focused on just a few very important things (garden, anyone?) that I didn’t realize, until everything had been checked off of my May list, that a vast cavern of abandoned caches occupies the rest of my mind. It is sort of like a disc that needs to be defragmented, this space of forgotten intentions. I will be doing that today — pulling together notes from my desk, computers, Pinterest, purse, journal, project books, and paper piles; consulting my date book for upcoming events of importance; daydreaming for a bit of inspiration; and (my favorite part) making plans. In my June future, I expect to see myself testing crochet patterns for autumn and practicing my embroidery stitches. There will be long days of priming and painting, followed by hours of standing with my hands on my hips and a smile on my face while I stare at the fresh spaces. There will be a birthday. The spring cleaning will get done.
Nearly every garden task has been completed. I have to say that I enjoy working in the yard with my man so very much. It seems like it is the most natural thing for us, a meeting of the minds followed by hard physical labor. He has also developed my penchant for obsessively checking the garden for new growth. I think that he is most keen on, and proud of, his asparagus bed. He picked out and bought the crowns, planned and executed the design, dug the trenches, and planted it all himself. I’m generally quite a control freak and I insist on being in charge of everything. This time, I wasn’t, and I’m glad.
We inherited an asparagus bed when we bought our house. Now we are a little sad to be moving away from it. Do you have tips on how to start one (and how long it will take to produce)?
The asparagus patch wasn’t too difficult to start, but then again… Rob did all of the work. There’s a lot of great advice online and I picked through that a bit. It differed a lot from one site to another. Asparagus grows wild here in Wisconsin, so I think that the conditions are optimal from the beginning. We bought a soil testing kit and didn’t end up using it. (Lazy.)
Rob dug a few feet down to loosen the soil and mix in our compost. He then dug trenches with little hills and placed the asparagus crowns atop those. Cover with soil, wait a few weeks, and voila! Now, wait a few more years until you can pick and eat. We can start cutting ours in 2013.
I’m impressed that you are planning for June – I am just able to plan for the next few days :-)
Had to go look at Pinterest. New site for me. If I go play there I might not even accomplish those plans for the next few days tho.
Darla
I have an old asparagus bed … 12 years? Anyway, I gave it up a few years ago (I never picked the spears in time) and planted flowers. Every year, asparagus still appears! Once it’s in, it’s in. And when it goes to seed, ladybugs! Or maybe it had aphids and the ladybugs appeared for the aphids? Anyway, I liked the ladybugs a lot.
I envy your garden order. I’m a wildish woman in the garden. Seed scatter, hope, water. Today is a weeding day for me.
i love what you say about you and Rob… and i love that you’re so happy :-)