Officially Garden Time

Yesterday was the day.

I crunched over dead, lifeless grass so that I could water the garden. We've had grass fires in our area, helped along by some reckless teenagers with bottle rockets, and we've had record drought. My garden is heaving and sighing for drink.

I spent all day yesterday moving hoses around and trying to saturate the plants. This morning I'm doing it some more, only today is more cold, more like what winter should really feel like. As I stood there in the whipping wind, I felt the axis turn, I knew that some creative spirit was afoot.

As I stood there moving hoses, I noticed a curve that I had not seen before. It begged to be drawn out, given more definition. It begged to be turned into a wall or some sort.

That's where I started and for the next hour I was lost as I planned the rentention wall that I've been trying to figure out for the past twelve months. And it was there all the time. I just had to "see" it. I had to trudge out there in my pajama bottoms and sweatshirt, pulling a dirty hose at just the right time, with just the right lighting to see what has been there begging to be seen.

And I sighed with relief.

Sure, I've kept busy with indoor tasks -- cooking, painting, doing some odd jobs around the house. But my heart yearns for the smell of fresh compost, the feeling of dirt in my hands, the wet earth as it awakens from its wintery sleep.

So I dug out the gardening books and plans and began scouting for my first project. Definately, the pergola needs its front garden and the front yard needs its finishing. There's enough work there to keep me busy through mid-May.

My first step will be to invest in six redbuds, native to Oklahoma and stunning in the spring cool air with their magenta and white buds. I want three of each color to set in front of the pergola.

Beyond that there is a lot of structure work that I will do starting in a few days -- pathways and crosswalks, those things that really bring structure to a garden that have little to do with fragrance or leaf, but are nonethless essential for focus and direction. I often joke with Nathan and tell him, "this is really why you were born, to help me with all this stuff". Actually, its the other way around, I think. The garden is a good way to stay in touch with other growing things, like kids.

So it is now officially garden time for me. I'll start lurking around the aisles of the garden stores near my house and I'll stop for my daily breaks to walk the yard, to sit and stare at the blank holes while I'm sure my neighbors wonder if my senses have left me.

Indeed they have. Gardening brings out all kinds of spooks in me. The garden haunts me, mystifies me, confounds me, soothes me. It is, for me, a place of reflection and of peace. It is where I go to think, to ponder, to wander and to wonder. It is as close to God as I ever feel and the paths of my garden are more sacred to me than any pew in any church.

I am grateful for the season ahead and thankful for the seasons before.