The Reluctant Gardener

     Hi everybody. I've been away from the blog biz for a few days while enjoying the Easter weekend and what a great one it was.
     I left off writing stories from our old days at The Big Apple Deli. Thank you to the many readers following our tales of laughter and misery. I'm pretty sure there are more 'episodes' to share, but for now I feel more like writing about the here and now.
     I think Teresa would agree that we're at a crossroads in our lives. She no longer teaches and I no longer broadcast any news. Nor are we in the food biz. What we are, at least for now, is a pair of glorified inn keepers at our family's ranch west of Snyder, The Windmill Ranch Preserve.

Big House Flower Beds, WRP

     One of our primary tasks is taking care of the grounds and to that end, I think I've become a 'reluctant gardener.'
     Funny thing or most certainly the unexpected thing is.... I/we enjoy diggin' in the dirt, so to speak. If you would have asked me five years ago, 10-years ago or longer, if I'd have thought about the peace in flowers--I'd have balked at the very least.
     From 1987-2005, my game was TV news... hardcore, fast-paced, 'if it bleeds-it leads' TV news. Teresa was the famous "Mrs. Wall' for 25-years in the classroom. I'm pretty sure there's not a young adult in this city/county who didn't have Mrs. Wall for fifth grade.
     Then, we both took up the crazy pace of the deli. Teresa's green thumb began to show its colorful face during this time with our buckets of flowers out front of the deli. I was still only concerned with who'd show for work and if we'd make payroll. Then, BAM! Hello, country life.
     Our thing is planting stuff from seed, most of it. T's the designer. I'm the muscle. Who knew the satisfaction that's gained from seeing dirt turn into a knee high blanket of colors? We've had both vegetable gardens and flower gardens. Without a doubt, we're flower growers.
      We've applied our enthusiasm to everything from clay pots to open pastures. After a lot of trial and error, we now focus on the beds closest to water and the ones that have produced year after year.

Pavilion Beds, WRP

     Now that the threat of frost has passed, we're concentrating on our Big House beds and Pavilion beds. This year, we're going all zinnias. We've done the wildflower mixes. They do okay, but without the correct sun and water mix, we usually end up with a lot more green spindly stalks than the hoped for collection of color.
      The Big House bed came with an old concrete border. It was obviously a foundation for something, but I don't know what. Long ago, we filled it with a mix of soil and manure from a nearby dairy. I remember because I shoveled it all into place one shovel load at a time. Over the years, we've added a touch of this and a smidge of that. Once the flowers come and go, we mulch it all up and start again.
      Each season, that starting again process includes more fertilizer mixed into the soil with the dreaded 'Claw.' It's a workout, but so far it's paid off every season.
      The drill's in place for the Pavilion beds. These are two narrow beds bordered by the pavilion's front porch and rail road ties. Our greatest success story for this area was the year of the sunflowers. The big yellow flowers with big, black eyes grew so tall that if I were standing on the porch I couldn't see you standing in the sunshine. The fencing around the perimeter is from the old days of the ranch dog, "Curly." He was my black Cocker Spaniel that chased everything and went anywhere whatever he was chasing went... including into the flowers. "Curly's" long gone, but the "Curly" fence is as sturdy as ever.
      The beds are prepped. Planting will likely begin by the end of this week. That's the easy part. Broadcast 'em. Press 'em into the ground. Walk away... Water.... Wait.
       And never a pair to fear branching out, we're trying our luck with Lavender from seed this year. Long ago, the plan for the ranch was a field of Lavender. We even have an area we call "Lavender Lane." Suffice it to say, the plants never took but the name did.

Lavender Experiment, WRP

       So on a MUCH smaller scale, we're trying Lavender from seed. The seed, if it's doing what we hope, is now germinating in it's little soil incubator in our kitchen. You can't tell from the picture, but there are upwards of 200 seeds in that cube of black soil and peat moss.
      We put the seeds in the box soil about two weeks ago. We're told Lavender takes anywhere from 10-to-30 days to germinate and break the surface. If that happens, there are about five more steps before the seedlings actually join planet earth. But just in case, we're preparing a small, full sun bed of well drained soil for a small, but potentially pleasing row of purple.

T's Flower Boxes, WRP

      If none of the above sprouts, we still have our window, flower boxes. These are all the result of Teresa's touch. The planting's the easy part. It's her constant 'dead-heading,' watering and cleaning that'll have these boxes overflowing to the ground before Independence Day.
     
Bill Robertson, I like mowing the lawn too. That's instant gratification!