I’ve always thought it quaint that English homes in novels
always seem to have names and there are always gardeners whose whole duty is to
maintain the property. Of course wealthy landowners had vast estates to maintain.
What did the gardeners do in the winter? Probably they had to haul wood for all
the fireplaces or something.
Anyway, Van Court House has a real gardener this year. Since
S. retired it is getting much more attention. S. always did a great job of
mowing, pruning, and weeding while I more or less (mostly less) maintained the
containers, window boxes and “gardens” but now he has time to devote to other
projects.
This year all the patio furniture has been sanded and repainted.
A new fence has been installed to prevent curious toddlers from falling into a
deep window well. I got terrific help in
selecting, purchasing and planting the above mentioned containers etc. The
gardener is using miracle grow and watering everything well that the sprinkler
system misses. He has plans to paint the gas grill next.
I am loving this. The yard at Van Court House is looking
park-like despite the drought.
Sadly though, our next door neighbor is completely
neglecting his yard, no watering, no weeding, no trash pick-up, no maintenance.
Ugh.
It's something of a "labor of love." One of the more therapeutic activities of retirement is working in the yard. I don't really know where all of this came from, but it just seems like I had a heritage of being blessed with a nice yard. I guess it just became innate.
ReplyDeleteThere was, however, one year when a certain black lab forced us to roto-till the back yard and restart from seed. A sprinkler system ultimately came to the rescue. I have also had to recharge the iPod numerous times.
L always shows an appreciation for my efforts and that is a great motivator when I'm only halfway through the mowing chores.
I've always loved the yard, and the flowers...I hope that someday mine will be "park like" like yours :)
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