The Art of Accidental Gardening

I hate the expression       "I'm not afraid of a little hard work"        because, well, frankly, I am.  A little or a lot of work.  I just don't like it.  I may not have the time or constitution for it.  Especially on top of all of the other "little hard works" there are in the day to day of life at home and in the garden.   And if I don't like doing something the first time, I sure as heck don't like it the second, third or fourth time.  Even though I love gardening, there is always something more pleasant and less back-breaking to do than transplanting a prickly shrub or top-dressing the border with manure.  Like just walking around looking at it with a cup of coffee in your hand for instance.   I mean, really.

That's how I feel about all of the ongoing clean up and toil (I love that word) created by the hailstorm and flood.  Not to mention our run-of-the-mill hot, sticky, and buggy July weather that comes with its own list of tedious to-do's for us gardeners. You, see, I am basically a very lazy person, given to slovenly, unproductive behavior.  Lying about reading books and magazines, watching old black and white movies while twisting my hair, your basic wool-gathering kind of stuff is always a temptation for me.  The only reason I get anything done is because I am constantly warding off laziness.  I have to trick myself into being productive.  I have to engage in the Art of Accidental Gardening.    


It works kind of like this. See this beautiful columnar laurel in a pot?  where it had happily lived for over four years?











Well, after the storm, it looked like this:


Ouch.

So after further decline in the next couple weeks, it became apparent it needed to be replaced, along with a number of other structural evergreens I had strategically placed around my little yard.  A lot of them needed replacing, and I had been dreading the heavy, dirty work of it all...........you see, like so many things in life, I had long since taken these "bones" of my garden for granted, and I missed them.  Terribly.

Anyway, one typically unmotivated morning, I decided to replace just the one laurel.  Then I could
move inside to the a/c and more comfortable, less taxing work (like laundry folding, or getting the mail).
Well, after emptying the pot of its rancid muck (the drainage hole had finally clogged up in the flood),
I started the process of replanting.  I remembered the two large bags of shredded newspaper I had
stashed in my small tool shed.... just perfect for taking up space in a large container, saving pricey potting
soil and making the pot lighter.

So after the filling and planting of this big concrete container, I realized that using the shredded newspaper had freed up the floor of the tool shed, which I could then more easily sweep out and clear, leaving me space to move in the rakes, etc (see diagram 1.0)


                                                                  Diagram 1.0

which then cleared up this surface for sweeping, which then motivated me to clean off the potting bench............you see where this domino schtick is taking me.  Before I knew it, three hours had passed, and I had accidentally gotten quite a bit of work done!  Without premeditation or gardening mojo.  It just kind of happened.  Quite by accident and without thinking...........or discipline.  (Though some would say I was in the ZONE, I just think it was accidental.)

If you have held in here with me and read this whole whining diatribe, then I should reward you.

Tomorrow I will show you what I planted in the dead laurel pot.  I want to see if you approve.  :)





Labels: