Friday, February 03, 2006

Roots schmoots.

Last summer we thought about pulling out this tangle and creating a garden. I work at a garden that is also a museum so I was feeling very inspired. Mark is an astounding cook so we often buy strange and interesting foods. We are also trying to be committed to eating as much organic produce as possible. A garden of our own sounded like a great thing. But last summer it was too late to begin. We were told that we had to dig out the space and then add things to the soil well before we wanted to plant. So the plan was put on hold.

The idea came up again on Monday night. Tuesday morning he said, "So are we gardening today?"
So we gardened. We pulled and tugged and clipped and shoveled. By Tuesday night we had cleared most of the tall stuff. This picture shows some of the roots that Mark had to clear out. (I say Mark had to because I couldn't even lift the ancient cast-iron pick axe, let alone swing the thing. Yet another piece in my determination to become STRONG.) I did my part hacking away at the old rose bushes. DON'T feel sorry for them. At one point I was pulling on some tangles, stepped back, found a wire that had been strung up to contain the bushes some time ago, and ended up tumbling over until I had landed on top of the pile of brush we'd created. It cushioned my fall nicely - until I tried to get up. Those roses got their revenge & I look like I've been cat-o-nine-tailed!

So that's where we are at the moment. (Yes, Canadians, Mark is gardening in his t-shirt in this picture!!) And this is the view now out of our front door. If you stand on the ledge and look over the wall you can see down the road to the sea. I'll try to get some more shots of our village on here as soon as I can.

While I was working on Tuesday I got quite philosophical about roots - about people putting down roots, how important those roots are, blah, blah, blah. I thought about all kinds of lovely things I thought I could go on about on here. By yesterday evening I was cursing roots - cutting them and clipping them so the bloody plants would just come out of the dirt already. Today I am nursing my blisters, keeping warm in the office (it's -2 today!) and trying very hard NOT to think too much about roots at all. I guess the philosophical moment has passed. Too bad ;)

I tried to think about a quote that I could add here but I couldn't so I'll add one that I would like to have on my front door someday that someone could read after they walked through my larger, more groomed, and all finished garden:

"If you are a dreamer, come in. If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, a hoper, a prayer, a magic-bean-buyer. If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire, for we have some flax-golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in!" - Shel Silverstein (again!)

5 comments:

Laini Taylor said...

I can't wait to see your garden develop as the year goes on. Are you going to plant all food, or some flowers too?-Laini

Alex S said...

Ouch! Your slip into the rose thorns sounds very painful! I look forward too to hearing how your garden develops. As someone who left it up to my husband last year and never really grew anything in the ground-only lots of indoor house plants over the years- I'm eager to plant things myself this year when we move in later this month. There will still be time to plant flowers like dahlias and I want to know that I am digging my hands in my own dirt and taking part actively in what blooms there. Like you wrote earlier, I want to be strong and I want to be much more accountable to myself.
AND I love the Shel Silverstein quote you just mentioned. Don't mind if I make a little door sign myself with that quote? It is such a perfect welcome!

Claudia said...

I love the quote...you find such amazing ones! I have a large garden...our piece of land is 2000squ. meters and we have a vegetable patch, a flower garden and a small green house outside the kitchn, a large rock garden out front, a small area behind the house with fruit trees, rasberries, red currents and strawberries and a small rising for pumpkins behind the house. I am constantly fighting weeds and large roots which grow into our garden from the forest next to us...it´s a lot of work but nothing the feeling of biting into your own strawberries or a freshly picked tomato is unbelievable!

Claudia said...

I think I need a bit more sleep, sorry about the double post earlier and my typing mistakes!

Frankie said...

Oh one of my favorite quotes! Shel Silverstein is amazing...I can't wait to see the garden progress..gardening is something I've always wanted to get into, but have yet to do. This Spring, I'll certainly be attempting to redo my entire backyard and I'll think of you to inspire me.