I Need Dirt!

It’s Spring. Time to be digging around and growing things.

The problem is that my yard has been overrun by damn strawberries. Yes, I know. Stop complaining. I’ll have 4-6 weeks of fresh fruit, totally organic, which is free. I should be celebrating.

But I’m not. I need to plant things and there’s not an inch of space left. I’ve already dug around, getting the garden in the courtyard at work ready to plant so for now, there’s nothing left to do there. I even planted a few pansies so I have something pretty to look out at and watch grow.

I need more! I’m about the most disorganized gardener you’ll find. When it comes to flowers, I like chaos. Riots of color, mismatched plants, things that shouldn’t grow where I stick them. I’ve learned, over the years, to ask the yard spirits to watch over whatever I plant and not to yank out things that are already growing happily, even if they aren’t where I want them. Leaving things be seems to make the yard spirits happy and then they help with the rest of the plants. Thus the out of control strawberries in my yard. I’ve asked the spirits for space to plant other things too but for now, they want strawberries.

Which leaves me roaming around, looking for space I can claim. Anyone need help in your yard? I’ll be right over!

Confused

I was outside the other day and noticed the most delicate scent wafting through the yard. Odd. Usually all you can smell in my neighborhood is french fries cooking at the corner bar. Curious, to say the least.

I looked around and finally realized it was my holly. Poor bush doesn’t seem to realize that it’s Autumn. It’s in full bloom and is just gorgeous. Thinking on it, I can’t remember if it bloomed last Spring so I don’t know if it’s late or early. Either way, it’s not going to be much help when it comes to providing pollen to make berries. Still, it is very pretty and was such a nice surprise that I had to thank it for making my day brighter.

I rescued this plant from a trash can years ago. It was down to one sad little leaf and its former owner had given up on it. I brought it home and chipped a hole in the cement at the back of my yard, since all the dirt area was already filled in with plants. If you don’t know, hollies aren’t really supposed to grow in lime, the main ingredient in cement. I planted it anyway and then asked the yard spirits to look after it for me.

Twenty years later, it’s eight feet around, six feet tall and beautiful though a tad confused. I explained seasons and, before I headed back inside, asked the yard spirits for their continued assistance. We’ll see…