My spirits aren't great today. I've been out in the garden planting, and that helped a little. But the news is unrelenting, and it's just very hard to take. Because my husband writes a resistance newsletter each night, we are news consumers 24/7. This is so that the readers of his newsletter don't have to be. Many people have told my husband that his newsletter is the only news that they can stomach, and so Robert feels an obligation to produce a quality newsletter each night that reflects the reality of the news, but also provides a perspective of calm and hopefulness. That's a big job. It helps us too, but it's a big job. On the other hand, as my husband always says, he writes the newsletter primarily for his girls (that's me and our 3 daughters) and his readers get to listen in. So I am grateful to have a partner that cares about his family in this important way, and who is so generous with his time and talent.
I also try to use my garden adventures as a way for people to divert their attention away from the difficulties of the day, and enjoy time in the garden with me. But today I felt like a cranky pants, so I'm not sure I really accomplished my mission. Ergh. Also my lousy videography skills are on full display today. Blech.
Anyways. I have so many Amazon boxes coming each day -- and they all have bulbs! Irises! Tulips! Alliums! I'm having a hard time keeping up with them. AND I'm having a hard time finding a place to plant them all. I told my husband that we need to take up some of the grass in the front yard so I have more space to garden!
Speaking of space to garden, I really want to encourage those of you who don't have yards, or have limited space, to think seriously about container gardening. I recently showed you how I planted potatoes in my garden using grow bags ($5.00 a bag!). They work for veg, flowers, and even bulbs! Bulbs that I might suggest for containers include daffodils and dwarf dahlias, maybe even smaller allium.
While bulbs look better and more substantial in drifts, or groupings, (especially daffodils!) when irises are as spectacular as the ones that bloomed last season in my garden, a single gorgeous beauty is enough to stop the show. So, it all depends on what kind of spectacle you want to provide!
Ok. Well, I'm off to debug my cabbage. After my rigorous and arduous debugging yesterday, I woke this morning to find that several of the largest plants had leaves that had been almost completely defoliated. And I found a huge cabbage worm, which I immediately squished. I considered it appropriate retribution. Plus after I had finished de-bugging yesterday, I was certain I had bugs all over me the rest of the evening.
Maybe that's why I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. Cabbage bugs. Ugh.