I usually find gardening meditative. Pulling weeds, digging my hands into the dirt – all these things calm me and help me focus on things other than the stresses of life. But the work required to tame the jungle that is our new garden has been anything but soothing.
Whenever there is a clear evening where I’m home while it’s still light out, I put on my gardening gloves and head out to tackle another area of the yard. Years of neglect mean that the most aggressive weeds have survived and thrived and I’m losing the battle.
So this week, I decided that I needed one area of the yard that is DONE.
My corner of sanity
I filled three big paper yard waste bags with weeds, lined up the stones that had migrated around the area, and put down a healthy layer of mulch to prevent more weeds from popping up.
I can’t tell you how therapeutic it is to have one area DONE, complete. Even though there will surely be more work in this area it feels fantastic to know that I can build upon this and tackle additional spots around the yard in this way.
What do you do when the work in your garden overwhelms you?
2 Responses to A corner of sanity
Jodi May 18, 2012
It looks great! I have felt a it overwhelmed this year, too, with a major bed re-work and a decision to clean out the awful north side of the house….which has landscape fabric and rocks beneath all the weeds. (People should be made to sign an agreement that they will return to move said rocks at future homeowners’ request!)
I make lists, and cross things off as I complete them. I also look at the “done” parts of the garden a lot just to prove to myself hedway has been made!
Karen May 18, 2012
I do the same thing you do…I just make a list of smaller projects and then tackle one or two a day. Right now my yard is still a huge mess, but at least the front yard looks good! Hard work, but look how nice it is when it’s done!