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Carol J. Michel

Award winner author of gardening humor books

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May Dreams Gardens

Five Glorious Minutes

May 14, 2008 By Carol Michel 16 Comments

For five glorious minutes, I am going to focus on what I have accomplished in my garden so far this spring, and not on what I still need to do.

I have…

Cleaned up the grape arbor bed, which has been an eyesore for several years.

Dug out the nasty Forsythia x intermedia ‘Arnold Dwarf’, which has been a poor performing shrub ever since I planted it.

Removed all the ribbon grass, leaving a nice area to plant new perennials.

Weeded and prepared the vegetable garden for planting.

Kept up with the mowing and trimming of the lawn.

Weeded allthe flower beds and kept up with deadheading the flowers as needed

And last fall, I straightened up my retaining wall bed, and dug out all the English ivy I foolishly planted there.

For the first time in a long time, I feel like my garden is under control, that there is no area that needs major renovation or extensive weeding or that I would be embarrassed for someone to see.

So I’ll take five glorious minutes to just enjoy this feeling and smell the lilacs. Ahhh… the smell of lilacs in the spring.

Yes, there are weeds sprouting behind my back and more flowers that will soon need to be deadheaded. And I still have much to do in the garden this spring, mostly planting, and ideas for more garden beds to be dug.

But that doesn’t matter right now, I’ll think about that tomorrow. These five minutes are about just being in the garden, enjoying it and resting in it.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: gardening

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lisa at Greenbow says

    May 14, 2008 at 2:37 am

    You deserve to have these 5 mintues of rest and relaxation. Actually I think you deserve more if you choose to take them.

    I hope this isn’t a repeat of my previous comment. I couldn’t tell if it was accepted or not.

    Just relax and don’t worry.

    Reply
  2. Kathy says

    May 14, 2008 at 2:50 am

    I was going to say something along those lines: only 5 minutes? Why not a whole half an hour? Be generous with yourself!

    Reply
  3. Robin's Nesting Place says

    May 14, 2008 at 3:37 am

    Good for you focusing on the positive! You’ve accomplished a lot considering the poor weather we’ve had recently. I’m sure you would have a lot more on your list if the weather had been better during your time off.

    Reply
  4. Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens says

    May 14, 2008 at 4:52 am

    Carol, this is an interesting topic. We think and concentrate about what we have to do, but ones it’s done, we forget about it.

    Reply
  5. Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen says

    May 14, 2008 at 7:20 am

    Carol my dear you should take much longer than 5 minutes to enjoy the fruits of your labor as you have worked so hard. Be a daredevil and take an hour or two or three. 😉 Gorgeous lilacs, wish I could smell them. I don’t have any yet but I will because who would want to do without them?

    You have cut some lilacs for the vase, haven’t you, so you can enjoy he wonderful scent indoors too?

    BTW wishing you lots of new blooms for GBBD!

    Reply
  6. Frances, says

    May 14, 2008 at 11:54 am

    Hi Carol, good idea to take a breather before bloom day, if it is anything like last month, you are going to be very busy at the computer tomorrow!
    Frances at Faire Garden

    Reply
  7. Anonymous says

    May 14, 2008 at 12:07 pm

    Good idea – to take stock of what you have achieved and give yourself a pat on the back

    Reply
  8. Naturegirl says

    May 14, 2008 at 12:49 pm

    Focusing on what is instead of what could be is a good thing! We can get so overwhelmed looking at and thinking about what has to be done!
    Gardens are so satisfying when all the chores are completed..we are slowly completing all our garden chores after getting back home from a winter away.Now I’ll go back and view all that you’ve done!

    Reply
  9. The Diva says

    May 14, 2008 at 1:06 pm

    Most definitely enjoy your garden. We need to do more of that. I must spread mulch today after I take Mom to the store.~~Dee

    Reply
  10. Gail says

    May 14, 2008 at 2:03 pm

    Carol,

    Lie down in your beautiful lawn and enjoy the fragrance from your Lilacs. I did enjoy the links, lots of fun to read older posts and get to know you and your garden better.

    gail

    Reply
  11. Laura says

    May 14, 2008 at 3:13 pm

    I’m also going to try to focus on what I have gotten done so far this year. Thanks for this post- I needed it!

    Reply
  12. Nancy J. Bond says

    May 14, 2008 at 4:07 pm

    You’ve accomplished a great deal already, and I’m sure your gardens look the better for it. 🙂 Kudos!

    Reply
  13. Anonymous says

    May 14, 2008 at 7:44 pm

    Doesn’t it feel so good too!! You had the right tools and you got some muscles in shape. You sure went at it with a lot of gusto. If they all grow at the same speed you got them ready—then we’ll be seeing flower photos next week;)

    Reply
  14. Anonymous says

    May 14, 2008 at 7:55 pm

    Or maybe even go for 10! 😉 It can be hard to just sit and enjoy a feeling of accomplishment in the garden. But luckily for us, the work feels like fun too, right? Enjoy!

    Reply
  15. Nancy says

    May 14, 2008 at 8:48 pm

    Hooray for the five minutes! I hope you get to do that every day times 4!

    Reply
  16. Mr. McGregor's Daughter says

    May 14, 2008 at 11:09 pm

    Sometimes 5 minutes is all you need. Now, don’t we all feel better?

    Reply

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