Yep, I'm feeling right up-to-the-gills overwhelmed, I am.
For me, it happens this way every year. I'm all set and ready early on to get outside and get a jump start on the garden. But Mother Nature won't allow it. Both air and soil are way too cold to do anything. Any seeds put into the ground would rot (death by hypothermia) and started seedlings set out would be frozen solid. I can only watch the days on the calendar zip by without doing any garden work.
The, over night it seems, the temp sails up to 70 degrees and all things "garden" need to be done at once. Right now. Immediately. Ugh. Looking at it all makes me feel I'll never be able to accomplish it before the 4th of July. By which date, obviously, it would be too late for crops to mature. Ugh.
So what have I done the past two days since our fickle weather has now turned summer-like?
I've spent it cutting, splitting and stacking wood. We had help from Chicken Mama and Gilligan so the four of us really hit the wood working area with a vengeance. It's a little mind-blowing to see what four people can accomplish working together as compared to two people (that would be me and Papa Pea) doing the same work. It's not just double the amount that gets accomplished, but exponentially much greater than that. We still have to get most of it under cover but having it all cut and split goes a far piece to having it done.
But tomorrow! Tomorrow I am spending the whole day in the garden. The. Whole. Day. I must to assuage this feeling I have that I'm so, so, so behind right now. Oh, it will take more than one day (that's an understatement) to get it all done. More like a couple of weeks, but if I put concentrated effort on the task it will get done, and then I can breathe easier. And stop acting like a very crazy lady who doesn't know which end is up.
I promise to have some pictures to illustrate my efforts by next post. Hold me to it, please.
It must be "tomorrow" by now, so you are probably gearing up to go outside. Do take it easy - you know what a marathon session of gardening can do to backs and shoulders and knees! -Jenn
ReplyDeleteI hit the weeding hard yesterday, but ended up bring them in to stock up with, so I lost out on more time outside. I just didn't want to lose out on getting them dried, frozen etc. It's back out there for me today too.
ReplyDeleteI do that every single year, and spend about three days madly chopping, hoeing and planting, and then move slow and cripple around for at least two weeks until my back and joints catch up. Seems like I could be smarter and move slower, but I do it again, each year. Good luck to you, and I hope you do get your garden in without too much pain.
ReplyDeleteJenn - Ha! I'm feeling all those muscles from the past two days of wood working, so maybe gardening non-stop now will be the needed change of pace! ;o)
ReplyDeleteKristina - That's just it . . . one project always leads into another that needs to be done in a timely manner. Guess we have to learn to not focus so intently on the one task we're trying to get done, done, done. Rather understand that in the big picture, everything is connected. Weeding, harvesting, processing, etc. It's all good. We just need clones working right beside us!
Karren - I'm not too worried about the "pain" but rather the timing so my peas (for instance) mature before the first frost! ;o) My dear husband is of the belief that if we exercised all those muscles year 'round, they wouldn't scream with pain at gardening time. Easy to say. But, hey, aren't we supposed to "take it easy" during the winter months?? :o}
New Header!!!!!!! :-)
ReplyDeleteAt your age, I do hope all this work, is really necessary. Either because you love, love, love doing it... Or really need to do it...
Said, because I can not imagine doing it myself, at your age.
Which is pooh-on-me, I know. Whimp and all that. ,-)
Your efforts are admirable. I feel comforted to know that all that I am feeling about vegetable gardening is also felt by others!
ReplyDeletewisps of words - Papa Pea and I operate on the idea that we'd rather wear out than rust out. And it's true, if you don't use it, you lose it. Gotta keep those muscles (and there sure are a lot of them we don't use every day!) strong and healthy or they'll become useless in short order.
ReplyDeleteI do love gardening . . . even when I grump and whine about being behind. It's so very satisfying to me.
Heck, I even like to weed! Most of all, we feel the only way we can be assured of having healthy food to eat is to raise it ourselves . . . or purchase from sources we have checked out.
It truly does take me about two weeks to get our whole large garden planted, but it's a big area along with our berries and asparagus and fruit trees that need tending.
I'm just in for a smoothie for a late lunch right now. I've been working in the strawberries all morning, listening to an audio book, not being bothered by bugs or weather that is uncomfortably hot. Best of all maybe, I won't have to work out on any exercise machine when I finish for the day!
Vera - I do believe it's the time of year when all of us gardeners feel the same way! Looking at it from this end, it seems as though it will never be done. But it always does get done, to one degree or another. Then comes the harvest and we forget the labor that went into it! The taste and satisfaction has to be experienced to be appreciated. :o)
I had to do the same thing. It was cold and rainy then Hot! I had a window of 2 days to get the garden tilled and planted. This was the fastest planting I ever did. I went in at daylight and stopped long enough to eat. I hope I didn't double plant any rows......
ReplyDeleteSherry - Oh, for sure, this time of year we HAVE to take advantage of any good day we have to get out in the garden and do what needs to be done! Double row planting is always suspect, but not as bad as thinking you've planted a row when you actually have not! (Ask me how I know about this!)
ReplyDeleteI will hold you to it! :) But then I peeked at your latest posts so I know you did post photos! ;) It's funny...I don't feel too overwhelmed, but there was one day where I felt like a ditz...I had everything around me, I had a list, I knew what had to be done....and I flustered and wasted about an hour scratching my head and furrowing my eye brows lol...didn't know where to start! Alex came out and helped me with the potatoes and everything flowed from there...though my garden isn't nearly as big as yours. We had the same thing happen, actually as I type this, I'm on the porch enjoying the heat and humidity of 30 degrees (86F)...just yesterday we were tempted to put the heat on in the bedroom!
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