Eeeek! A Photo Journal

Hanging my head in shame, or scoping out some wild treats?

 

Are you one of those people who feels inadequate, inept, and all around imposer-like when you come across BEAUtiful garden photos from people who seem to know what they’re doing? Well, don’t despair. You’re human, you’re real, and life is a beautiful thing whether you weed regularly or not.

So, order is the issue at hand, and in life most of us come to realize sometimes we got it, and sometimes we don’t.  When we don’t, it isn’t the time to get all hard on ourselves.  It’s time to regroup, rethink, and get your hands down in the dirt.

Instead of a long bit of prose speckled with pics, I’m going to let my pictures speak for themselves.  They are each worth a thousand words.  I’ll divulge some, and you can fill in the rest with your own imagination.

For starters I’ll begin with this one word – one that has been on my mind for a few weeks now as I’ve let the garden take a back seat to life obligations that couldn’t jump back there with it and enjoy its company.

Entropy:  (I got this from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/entropy)

1. Symbol S For a closed thermodynamic system, a quantitative measure of the amount of thermal energy not available to do work.

2. A measure of the disorder or randomness in a closed system.

3. A measure of the loss of information in a transmitted message.

4. The tendency for all matter and energy in the universe to evolve toward a state of inert uniformity.

5. Inevitable and steady deterioration of a system or society.

1.     OK, that’s exactly what my first thought was. Let’s move on…

2.     Randomness, yes. Closed?  Well I have a fence around the garden, so yes.

3.     Wait…what?  I didn’t catch all that.

4.     HA! Since when does soil, sun/moisture combo worshipping weeds, and viable temps move the garden towards inertia?  I think it’s headed the other way.

5.     Deterioration?  No, just less orderly and to a certain degree, more interesting.

And now, the photo journal….. Enjoy!

I don't even know what the hell is going on here. Arugula gone to seed (Oh, how I wish I had actually eaten some arugula), dandelions, and a strawberry plant who has lived in this spot for 6 years. 

The Enchanted Garlic Forest (plus grass).

A nice bit of soil getting ready to welcome tomatoes.  A nice path of weeds surrounding it.

If purple is offered, how can I refuse. (Note, I did plant the clover - I will take some credit here).

Thank god for planted clover!  It appears the strawberry plant is overrun....

....but look again!  Maybe the ONE smart option I had in motion.  Clover is the garden's (and the bees') friend.

This oregano is not intimidated by this infusion of chocolate mint.  I know!  I'll just plant mint and my garden will thrive eternally!

Lettuce, arugula, and a weeding boy. Happy Mother's Day!

Earthworms don't complain.

Edible weeds are happy finds.  Lamb's Quarters poking out of the spinach and some nice Wood Sorrel on the lower right add to the salad.

Plus, weeds make nice home for ladybugs in waiting.

Pulled weeds = happy pigs

The martins don't seem to mind :)