A Day Well Spent

This morning I was in the school garden by 10:03am. I started hoeing a row until our Saturday morning Deloitte volunteer arrived. He chose to begin by sanding the shed ramp that he'd helped to rebuild last fall at one of our Deloitte work days, back when we could welcome a whole group of people into the garden at the same time. Between coats of stain, he pitched and wheeled several wheelbarrow loads of leaf mulch over to my row, dumped them into piles, and raked the mulch evenly over my carefully-laid cardboard.

Around noon I dashed home to wash the staining brush, grab several potted plants, and say a brief hello to my family and to my neighbor friends across the street who'd traveled back from Winchester to do more packing and hauling from their old house, now under contract. I was momentarily sorry that I'd booked myself so tightly today, but off I went to Paul and Sharon's Lyon Park bungalow for the next round of gardening.

There, I weeded a 12 x 5 x 2 foot flower bed with precision, using every position I'd learned last fall in Yoga, and then some. Next, I tackled their line of four boxwood bushes with abandon, thinning here, chopping out deadwood there, trimming away the heaviness and restoring some personality to these resilient garden soldiers.

By that time, Paul and Sharon had finished another weeding project and were planting the four foot tall Red-Twigged Dogwood bush that I had recommended for their troublesome corner. We all stood back and admired how striking the fan of red stems looks against the blue-gray siding and the white brick foundation. I was especially proud to be introducing them to the concept of "winter interest".

After we planted flowers in the newly-weeded beds, I scurried back to the school garden to finish up a few quick chores there, then home to take care of my own short-list of plant-related duties. A soaking bath, dinner with wine, and I'm ready to fall into bed, ever thankful that my family supports my need for weekly garden therapy.