I generally like to confine my amateur gardening to the
backyard, assuming that no one can see me there to judge the fruits of my
labor. I know this isn’t really true because, in spite of a stockade fence, any
of the neighbors can look from upstairs windows and see my disorganized way of
doing things: smelling the lilacs, taking pictures of the butterflies, pouncing
on every dandelion I see to wrestle it out, and smelling the lilies of the
valley that don’t quite smell like my favorite colognes of yesteryear.
It takes forever, and many trips to the shed to get all of the tools I need for this
endeavor: the gloves, the digger, the
wonderful gizmo for getting out the dandelions, Whoops, there are leaves, back
for the rake; now there is dirt on the patio, have to get the broom and the
dustpan, and on it goes, the Norwood Mustang sit- upon, bought for sitting on
hard benches at school sporting events many years ago and now my best friend as
I scoot along the rough surfaces of my yard. What began as a shade garden looks
good in the spring, gradually turns sour during the summer, and is really
burned out by this time of the year.
I never knew the difference between a perennial and an
annual until we finally took down our swing set, cemented basketball hoop and
make believe baseball mound and started growing grass when our kids were in
high school. Since we had a fence and
neighboring shade trees, I thought it would be fun to plant flowers and came
across a library book, “Perennial All-Stars” by Jeff Cox. I eventually bought the book and that was
the beginning of my amateur gardening.
Our son had a summer job at the long gone Home Quarters so every time I
dropped him off for work, I bought the
perennials that were the specials of the week, especially the “All-Star”
Perennials for Shade and looked for the suggested “co-stars.” Some things worked out and others
didn’t. I figured it was survival of the
fittest. I also went to the gardening
program at the Norfolk County Agriculture School every fall and spring. As
often as they sent me the catalogs, I went.
The teacher was a great lecturer and three things he said that I took to
heart were: You can never lime too often, as it doesn’t hurt you or your
garden; the best soil for your garden is the compost you get from your local
town landfill; and there’s no real need to mulch. When I look at certain plants now, I can
remember when and where I got them. Some
were cuttings or throwaways from friends, which were especially nice, some were
gifts, and some I bought myself. It was
always a challenge but a fun challenge.
So much for the backyard.
I try not to work in the front except when it is dark or when most
people are at work or when the hedge needs clipping. I hate for people to see me there for hours
and hours without much to show for it. I
love being outside and it’s a good excuse, maybe because I work indoors all
week. Today, one of those perfect fall
days, I moved to the front, again with my six-step approach to getting all my
supplies out there, to trim the hedge. I
actually enjoy doing this because I have an electric clipper and you can stand
up and do it, which is nice at my age. I
have no idea what I’m doing but people must feel badly for me because as
they’re walking by, they tell I’m doing a good job! It’s very encouraging, really. Someone today asked if I do this once a
year. Are you kidding me? Whether it needs it or not, I do it at least
every six weeks. People I know, or don’t
(they go too fast and I’m so intent on my work and trying not to maim myself)
go by and honk (mostly in black trucks).
Strangers say nice things about my work. Families pushing baby
carriages, neighbors walking their pets, people I don’t usually see because I
don’t have a pet to walk, am usually at work or in the back yard, comment
politely or say “Hello.”
Working at the library, besides providing me with lots of
beautiful gardening books, has been great for helping me identify weeds in the
garden. As a reference librarian, I’m
always amazed that people can identify weeds in books, not by going to the
index and looking them up, but by looking at pictures. We have some very good
gardeners working at our library so I occasionally bring in things I find in my
garden, although they are usually DOA by the time they get there, in order to
know if they are real plants or weeds.
This summer, a prominent item in my garden was a tall, ivy-leafed clump
with little white flowers. I’d never
seen it before so I brought it in to be scrutinized by a couple of my
co-workers. They decided it was an
unfamiliar weed and several days later, one of them said she had seen it
growing along the highway somewhere. A
week later, another one emailed that it was being discussed on Facebook and
there were references to it, with a picture, on the Audubon Society
website. Mystery solved! It’s bad, bad, bad, so another thing I had to
do every day, besides watering, was to check to be sure that it hadn’t come
back. Another mystery was solved when a
friend and I were walking and left a note on a door about a plant in the yard
that we really admired but couldn’t identify.
A few days later, this wonderful lady came through the doors of the
library with a cutting of the plant and the name of it. I asked how she knew where we were and she
said she had seen us walking by and knew we worked at the library.
One of the nicest things about gardening (or yard work, as
we called it back home) is that, like ironing, you can think about just about
anything while you are doing it. That’s how I came to write this article—I
started writing it in my head as I was cleaning up the backyard from this past
summer and figured I had better come in and type it up because my interest in
gardening is definitely something I owe to the library. Check out section 635.9
for perennials and annuals, 635.932 for perennials, 635.965 for indoor
gardening and 712.6 for landscape gardening. The library also has a database,
the Gardening Landscape & Horticulture Collection, which you can access
from home or in the library by going to the website at norwoodlibrary.org. Click on Databases for Research under Quick
Links on the right hand side of the website.
Do not forget the wonderful Michael Dirr books about trees and shrubs
and the beautiful American Horticulture Society gardening books, some of which
have been donated by the Norwood Evening Garden Club and others, for
circulation and reference. Enjoy your
outdoor time while you can, whatever you do, but come to the library for our
many indoor activities.
