We’re in the thick of winter. I can accept that. Biff, not so much – he’s basically done with the cold come mid-October, and he just struggles through the rest. It’s a tough slog.
Me, I appreciate holiday decor and greenery – decorating with cedar boughs and magnolia leaves and boxwood. Putting together a winter urn arrangement or a wreath is a nice way of easing out of a beautiful fall into winter grayness. But, after the holidays, things just get grayer, and spring in Ontario is such a slow creep.
So, we’re daydreaming. We’re thinking ahead to greener times and what they’ll have in store for us. I’m already reading gardening textbooks and seed catalogues, and drawing up plans. Is January too early? I mean, yeah, almost definitely, but it certainly makes me feel better.
We’re amateur gardeners. We moved into our home just over three years ago, and our outdoor space before that consisted of about sixty square feet of concrete patio. Until Biff showed me the light, I couldn’t keep a cactus alive. My green-thumbed father tried in vain for years to teach me something, anything, about cultivating plant life, but I mostly wanted to stay inside and play video games.
When we got the house, though, something flipped. The existing front and back garden were sad and neglected, but nothing sets your imagination alight like a blank canvas. They’re little, urban gardens, but our backyard stretches out for just over seventy feet. It’s our oasis.
We’ve learned mostly through trial and error. Some plants have worked, some haven’t. When we laid new stonework down in the front and back, we knew so little that we just filled the remaining space with whatever sensible plants we could find at local nurseries. Nature pretty much worked itself out around us.
I’ve especially taken an interest in it. Last year, I started reading excitedly about edible landscaping, much to Biff’s dismay. He maintains his belief that vegetables are inherently ugly, but I hold onto the hope that I’ll prove him wrong.
This fall, the gigantic maple tree which hangs over our backyard (from two yards over, no less) suffered some damage, and needed to be trimmed back heavily. It means that, for the first time in what must be about thirty years, our backyard needn’t be a shade garden anymore. I’ve been wounded by two summers of wilting, leggy tomato plants and failed plantings, but 2015 is gonna be different. 2015 will be the summer of flowers and ornamental veg and a real fall harvest.
I’ll make Biff eat his words. And, you know, some tomatoes.
