I love gardening. Helping little things come to life, watching them grow, bearing the fruits of my labors. It really connects me to the Earth. I have a bench in my garden so I can sit and watch the bugs and bees and occasional critters that wander through. Gardening gives me a serenity and balance that is comforting and spiritual.

My health and associated surgeries keep taking that away from me. Now, with my current diagnosis of “What the hell?!?” I’m so weak and tired that I don’t have the energy to put my hands in the dirt.

I didn’t have a garden last year, other than the strawberries that keep hanging in there, ever positive and hopeful that soon, there will be a real garden again.

Husband mentioned several times that he’d like to have a garden this year, but we just don’t have the time. Wednesday, when I went shopping, I picked up a dozen packs of seeds. At dinner, I set them by his plate. Sneaky? Yes. Effective? Hell yeah!

This morning Husband cleared the weeds and overgrowth from the garden. We have raised beds, and since we didn’t garden last year, many of the weeds had very shallow roots. I helped as much as I could, by putting the weeds and rubbish in garbage bags. Just that little bit of “gardening” has helped my outlook immensely.

This evening, he is dumping fresh dirt and mulch into the beds, tilling them, setting up a drip watering system, and planting the seeds. A couple hours in the morning, and a couple in the evening, and our garden will be complete and self-sustaining, other than an errant weed or two that I’ll be able to pull from the soft dirt.

Happy Spring/Summer Gardening!