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A Young Man's Fancy Turn to...Yard Work! - Episode 5

Spring is in the air! A time when a young man's thoughts turn to...his yard, his flowerbeds, and his gardens! And that's where my thoughts and activities have been today! Steve, my hubby, didn't come down this weekend due to my having to work last night. It was a long enough shift that he felt he should just stay home and he'd planned to have a fun day with his mom. However, he didn't think to tell her that, so she made other plans! So he ended up spending his day working on some things at the restaurant, such as cleaning the ventihood and the deep fryers, and then working in his own yard until he had worn himself out. It's always strange the weekends we don't see each other...I feel so incomplete on those weekends, as if there's a piece of myself that's missing. And obviously there is. It's the same way I feel during the week in between our weekends. But, anyway, enough about that! We're here to talk about yardwork, flowerbeds, and gardens! So with the weather being as beautiful as it has been this weekend, I decided I had to get out into my yard today and do some things that I've been putting off. One of the first things I did was to give my yard its first mowing of 2022. You'd think it wouldn't really need to be mowed on March 6, but this is south Mississippi, and believe me when I say, it needed mowing! One of my neighbors across the street started mowing his yard yesterday and finished it today, so I'm definitely not alone in getting some mowing done! There's something rather zen-like in mowing, although perhaps more like a sado-masochist form of zen, since it's difficult to avoid scratching and clawing branches, twigs, and thorns while riding on the mower. But, you know, what's yardwork without a few scratches and scrapes here and there? I mean, if you don't get them while working in the yard, did you really work in the yard at all?

After I finished mowing, I then moved on to pruning my rose bushes. Ideally, they should have been pruned in February, but I didn't get around to it last month. I pruned them rather aggressively, so they should be sprouting out with new growth in the next few weeks! I know, there's the old missive that you shouldn't plant anything until after Easter, but I don't think that applies necessarily to when roses will start to green up. Of course, I'm not the plant expert in the family, that would be my hubby Steve. He's the one I ask all these hard yard questions of! Anyway, I actually didn't prune all of my roses - that would have been an all day job! Just kidding, but I did just prune just the eleganza roses and the lavender roses. Later this week I may prune the knockouts and my 3 white climbing roses that are behind the statue of David in the side yard, although I'm really tempted to leave the climbers and just see if they'll get bigger and take over the trellis they're on. I don't think it works that way though, I think they'll need to be pruned to get them to get big like I want them to grow. I'll just have to check with my expert on that!

I also did something I know a lot of people dislike, but I felt they needed it - I pruned my crepe myrtles. Again, not all of them, only the cranberry and pink ones out by the road. I do have a pair of white Natchez crepe myrtles in the same area that the white climbing roses and my David statue reside, but they tend to form a gorgeous canopy, so I've never pruned them. I did prune the ones by the road to within an inch of their life! Just kidding, but I did do a lot of intense pruning on them. It can be a little difficult to reach some of the branches, but even though I'm sore as hell from doing it, I'm glad it's been done! Now, I just need to focus on clearing out the raised bed I built a couple of years ago so I can get some tomatoes and a few other veggies planted in it. I doubt I'll wait until Easter, but will probably start doing it in the next couple of weeks. I also, in the coming months, need to get back to the half-finished flowerbed where most of my roses and the brick courtyard I built are. Mainly I just need to put down landscape cloth and spread mulch over that cloth. That's a project for later in the spring though.

Steve is working on a few projects of his own as well. He's still working on his formal garden, which is going to be a masterpiece when he finishes it! Right now it's a rectangular pattern with an arched entrance, which leads up a path to the center, where a huge, gorgeous concrete urn sits atop a pedestal and is encircled by plants. It's divided into 4 sections, with a gravel path separating each section, and a red Japanese maple is the focal point of each section. The entire garden is surrounded by oakleaf hollies, which when they grow, will screen the formal garden and give it an outdoor room feel. Next to that, he's building a circular rose garden, which is going to be awesome when it's completed. Right now, that one is just in the planning phase, with the circles and other shapes around it drawn out on the ground. Roses are my favorite flower, even if they sometimes are a little difficult to grow, but both he and I are learning the best way to raise them!

Ok, this episode is short and also light on controversy, but as I like to remember, it's meant to be a reflection of me, my likes and interests, and all the crazy and wacky things that go through my mind! As the intro says, "Be afraid, be very afraid!" Next week I'll tackle something a bit more controversial, like maybe the Russian invasion of Ukraine, or possibly cults and scams and how I feel a friend is mixed up in something like that, or something that should stir up some adrenaline! Anyway, I hope everyone will like, subscribe, comment, and rate this podcast on whatever medium you listen to it on! Please send any emails you'd like to twogoatsdonkey@gmail.com, visit www.twogoatsandadonkey.com for the blog, the transcripts of the show, and links to the social media. Until next time, folks, have a great evening, or morning, or whenever you listen to this. Goodbye!

George