Monday, April 06, 2009

Letter from a nut case

Dear beloved neighbor of mine,
Your yard looks different than mine
and I must say there are times when I might have been envious.
Your dedication to raking often and with great vigor, combined with your fear of planting has produced something resembling a dog park appearance; functional, austere, nothing to lift a leg on.
The clever use of concrete, gravel and perfect brown dirt is so easy to maintain; Rake, broom and blow it away and you are free to do.... not much else.
Compared to mine, you look like you are winning hands down. All winter my woodpiles moved about as I split, stacked and dried the last great renewable heating source our mountain has for free. My other stuff has had to rest outside from time to time, and the clutter factor is irritating I know and I would bet you would like to say something about it (so get your own blog, Steve).
In the fall when you were raking falling oak leaves, I ignored them ( thanks for raking some of mine, was that a hint?). All winter the ground you raked bare was frozen hard and became almost sterile, while the oak and pine debris in the rest of the forest protected the roots of the dormant plants by creating a layer of insulation we call mulch.
Now that it is spring, the tables are about to turn, as the heads of daffodils and tulips poke through and the perennials that survived the herbicidal tendencies you could not repress will come forth, crying aloud for joy at the warmth of a spring day and pushing their way skyward in a riotous display of color. Do not worry, your gravel will still have leaves to rake that have blown in from across the street. and though my fence did not stop you from raking in my yard, apparently my putting down redwood bark mulch has helped you to see that I do care for my yard, I just need to have it different than yours. The next six months belong to spring and summer, and my plan comes out looking like a winner.
As a consolation prize I will scatter a few of my spare pine needles over the fence for you to play with. I would hate for you to have no 'yard work' to do.
Regards
David

6 comments:

DD said...

My friend next door rakes up my leaves every pre-winter. He makes a nice little pile over his flowerbed.

The first time I saw this, I thought he was a bit off.

Gardeners use this like a mother tucking in the children with a warm blanket on a cold winter's day. Mountain folk are a craft bunch.

Sleepypete said...

I must get some of my yard work done some time :-)

Good job I have an understanding neighbour, cos one of the fence panels is still down. Need to put it back up again so I can get Mr Satellite to fix my dish :-) (it blocks where the ladder would go)

Amrita said...

Gardening is hard work David.We have a man coming in to help us for an hour.

I have Simran 's Progress Report posted on my blog

Anonymous said...

David,

Rob and I are sitting here laughing hysterically at this post. I daresay it's one of my all-time favorites from you!

Happy Flowery Days!

Snaggle Tooth said...

Why do folks not understand natural mulch of leaves helps the earth? It's almost time to rake mine off the periwinkles n Lillies of the valley, which would die without the cover.

I hate sterile yards- my landlord from the city with the weed-whacker killing off all the perienials- I say, go back to the city! The countryside is for the plants n birds!
Trespassers who mess up your plan because it isin't their plan are so disrespectful!
(as long as ya don't slash their tires-)

Donetta said...

Oh how fun a post, yes we gardeners look as if we have weeds in the rocks, but now delight my neighbors in the glorious poppies! Those who really do have a weed to pull are letting them seed, or polluting the bees and other pollinators with the herbicides they spray. So many of our pollinators are dying off that in our north country that gardeners have to pollinate BY HAND! So I will gift my bees with flowers and pull the weeds by hand. Loving life!
I started a new gardening blog.
BEE BLISS GARDENS.
Mulch on!