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Award winner author of gardening humor books

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May Dreams Gardens

Waiting at May Dreams Gardens

January 7, 2008 By Carol Michel 20 Comments

Gardening involves a lot of waiting, especially in the wintertime. I’m good at waiting!

I am waiting for my hyacinths to sprout and bloom.
I keep the bulbs in the back of the refrigerator from the time I buy them in the fall until the first of the year. Then I get them out and put them in hyacinth vases for forcing with just enough water so that the base of the bulb barely touches the water. (For my younger sister, the base is the flat part of the bulb).

I have fewer bulbs this year than last year. I could say that I did that deliberately to have more of an “understated display” but the real reason is that some of the bulbs molded in storage. I should have checked on them earlier.

I’m waiting for the first crocus leaves to show up.

Most years, this is the spot where I’ll see the first crocus. It’s a little microclimate of warmth by my front porch step. Last year, I spotted the first crocus in late January and I am expecting it will be around the same time this year.

I call that rock on the lower left in the picture my “brain rock” because it looks kind of like petrified brains. Sometimes I act like my brain has petrified, but hopefully only when no one is looking.

I’m waiting for the gardener to weed out this henbit in the vegetable garden.Wait, I am the gardener here. Dang, if it hadn’t been all drizzly and wet out, I would have done it today since it was pretty nice otherwise with temperatures in the 60’s. That’s a very pleasant temperature for working outside in the garden in the winter, and unexpected in January.

I’m waiting for some more compost.Since I ascribe to the “just heap it on the pile and eventually compost happens” school of composting, I won’t get much compost from these piles until next fall.

I’m also waiting for the garden fairies to show up in their special garden of miniature plants which are all dormant now.Did you see what those garden fairies did to me yesterday? They took over my blog! I’m going to be more careful from now on and not leave my laptop turned on when I’m away from it.

Waiting. Sometimes that’s what gardening is. A lot of waiting. Waiting for something to happen.

What are you waiting for?

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: gardening

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. chuck b. says

    January 7, 2008 at 4:28 am

    Pizza! Should be here any minute.

    Reply
  2. kate says

    January 7, 2008 at 5:13 am

    Your hyacinths will look beautiful when they are in bloom. I like their containers.

    I had to laugh when I saw the brain rock. It does have the look of petrified brains. Your miniature garden will be a treat to see in spring!

    Reply
  3. Sherry at the Zoo says

    January 7, 2008 at 12:02 pm

    I’m waiting for the kids to wake up and an interesting idea to pop into my brain for today’s blog post.

    I’m also waiting for the weeding fairy to come visit my yard.

    Reply
  4. Lisa at Greenbow says

    January 7, 2008 at 12:51 pm

    I just love your brain rock. It looks like a great specimen. You have a nice selection of bulb forcing vases. I just mentioned that I want to collect a few more of these.

    No wonder your fairies are so active in your garden. They have their very own area.

    I am just waiting for spring for when that time comes the garden will awaken from its winter slumber and all will seem right with the world. At least I will be too busy to notice anything else. 🙂

    Reply
  5. Frances, says

    January 7, 2008 at 1:01 pm

    Hmmm…waiting for what? Waiting for the sun to come up so the moring garden tour can occur is the daily wait.

    Reply
  6. Sweet Home and Garden Carolina says

    January 7, 2008 at 1:18 pm

    To win the lottery, for hell to freeze over, and Spring !

    Reply
  7. Stunned Donor says

    January 7, 2008 at 1:43 pm

    I was waiting for Epiphany so I could take down all the Christmas decorations without giving my superstitious Aunt the vapors. That done, I was waiting for a warm spell to do some weeding in the garden and that’s come today. I see you have my favorite weed too, that %&#$@*^ creeping charlie. I hate it!!

    Reply
  8. Anonymous says

    January 7, 2008 at 2:03 pm

    I’m waiting for Tuesday, when I’m going across town to see if Andersons has potting soil (Home Depot didn’t) and if the optometrist will do anything about my glasses frames, which I bought two months ago and are already chipping. And I’m waiting for an e-mail to confirm my biggest seed order went through.

    Reply
  9. WiseAcre says

    January 7, 2008 at 6:49 pm

    I wait for my wife and anticipate the garden in spring.
    The first is for life the other our thing.

    Reply
  10. Anonymous says

    January 7, 2008 at 7:13 pm

    I’m waiting to see how warm it’s going to get today Jan 7 2008. It’s 2;14 pm and already 66 degrees.

    Reply
  11. Mr. McGregor's Daughter says

    January 7, 2008 at 11:04 pm

    I’m waiting for my children to grow up & move out. Sorry, that didn’t sound very nice, but they woke me up at 4:30 a.m. today. I guess they were excited about getting back to school after the break. (I know I was excited.) You & I have the same compost methodology, which I like to call “Compost happens.” If I hadn’t been so busy today, I would have pulled out my weeder & attacked a garlic mustard that was hidden by the Forsythia leaves.

    Reply
  12. The Diva says

    January 7, 2008 at 11:43 pm

    I tried forcing crocus in those little forcing vases, but my crocus rotted. Obviously, I’m not doing something right. Ah well, I do have a pot of paperwhites on the windowsill. Maybe they’ll bloom soon.

    Reply
  13. Entangled says

    January 8, 2008 at 12:05 am

    I’m waiting for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day. If the weather stays warm I should have snowdrops. WooHoo!

    Reply
  14. Anonymous says

    January 8, 2008 at 12:09 am

    I’m waiting for April 5th, when I will see you at the Garden Bloggers Spring Fling! Can’t wait, Carol.

    Reply
  15. Robin (Bumblebee) says

    January 8, 2008 at 12:29 am

    I’m good at waiting too. I’m waiting for someone to rake up those last leaves, turn the compost, weed the front beds…

    I am so very patient. (Back patting here.)

    –Rboin (Bumblebee)

    Reply
  16. Mary says

    January 8, 2008 at 1:34 am

    The brain rock! LOL!

    Wait wait wait. In Indiana, winter is far from over…will you have snow yet?

    If you would like some tropical breezes, come to Charlotte. It was 70 today and will be warmer tomorrow (after teens last week). The flys, bees, and lizards made an appearance today.

    Reply
  17. Carol Michel says

    January 8, 2008 at 3:08 am

    Chuck B., Sounds good. Reminds me of my college days when we ordered pizzas every Sunday night.

    Kate, Thanks, the hyacinths should bloom in those dark February days when we think winter will never end.

    Sherry, There is no weeding fairy, you know that!

    Lisa at Greenbow, It seems like spring came today, doesn’t it?

    Frances, That sounds nice, to walk around the garden every morning. Alas, I don’t have that luxury in the morning…

    Carolyn Gail, I’m waiting to win the lottery, too. Now, if I could just remember to buy a lottery ticket.

    Steven, Wow, sounds like everything you are waiting for is happening. You can have all of that weed that you want!

    Seeded, I hope your seed order went through. I didn’t get my seeds ordered this weekend like I wanted to.

    Wiseacre, how nice!

    Eleanor, it got very warm today. Too warm, if you ask me.

    Mr. McGregor’s Daughter, I’m sure after several weeks at home most kids were ready to go back to school. 4:30 is quite early to get up!

    Dee/Reddirtrambling, I also have some tiny crocus forcing vases, but haven’t had as much luck with them.

    Entangled, Snowdrops would be nice!

    Pam/Digging, Me, too!

    Robin(bumblebee), Something tells me you have a long wait ahead of you so it is good you are good at it.

    Mary, That’s right, winter is far from over. I hope we get some more snow, especially when it gets cold again.

    Thanks all for waiting with me!
    Carol, May Dreams Gardens

    Reply
  18. Unknown says

    January 8, 2008 at 5:58 am

    Another wonderful post, Carol. Waiting can be a good thing if it doesn’t stress, and it obviously doesn’t stress you. What am I waiting for? At the moment, not much other than the Glenn Gould CD and the Christopher Lloyd book I ordered as a me-present from Amazon.ca. I don’t mind it being winter now that the bulbs are planted…the days are getting longer, the snowbirds are here, I have lots of great stuff to read…so I guess the only thing I’m waiting for is to be really healthy again so I can enjoy the gardening when it begins in a few months!

    Reply
  19. Julie says

    January 8, 2008 at 7:50 am

    The garden fairies must be so happy in their area! I think I have some that live in my succulent tire gardens also!!! They stay so neat and pretty, I am sure they work on that all night long, whilst they dance and sing!

    Reply
  20. Carol Michel says

    January 11, 2008 at 2:55 am

    Jodi, I don’t mind waiting, really, and I hope my siblings who read this don’t dispute me on that! I hope you are getting better each day, healthwise.

    Julie, You have good fairies if they help keep your garden tidy!

    Carol, May Dreams Gardens

    Reply

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