Groupons, Sunshine and Recuperation

Ajuga coming to life

Today was very nice in the morning.  The sun was out with just enough of a breeze to make it pleasant to be out side.  The flowerbeds are filled with new growth, both wanted and unwanted.  My weeding and trimming the beds for this year has taken a back seat to knee rehab.  But for about an hour and a half this morning I worked in the front beds.  While tired after this little short workout it felt good to be in the sunshine.

Gardening or at least digging and planting has been something I have enjoyed for many, many years.  The ritual of early spring yard work has been a favorite part of the process.  It is about 4 or 5 days of 6 or 7 hours of hard work each day.  Sore muscles and aching joints were part of the product of the work as well as the clean yard.  Usually the amount of pain relievers increased in proportion to the number of hours worked on the yard.

Weeds and shrub trimmings are relegated to the bags headed for the compost facility.  Leaves are either mulched with the mower or sucked up by the vacuum.  With the latter option the leaves are added to our compost pile.  Last year's dead plant tops would be removed and added to the Adcock compost, also.  Henbit and dandelions are sent to the landfill.  Larger twigs and branches are piled by the chiminea to be burned on a day when we have wieners in supply.

I have purchased Groupons for manicures, pedicures, equipment rentals, food and meals out over the past few months.  Today's short period of work proved to me that the Groupon recently purchased for three hours of yard work was a worthy investment.  I loved the sunshine.  I relished the feel of pulling the henbit from around the newly sprouted lilies, yarrow and chrysanthemums.  The winter was so mild that the salvia is already in bloom along with the bleeding heart.  That is not the typical order of bloom.  But this is not the typical year for me and my garden.  It is a year for groupons, sunshine and recuperation.