Jet’s Planting

 

Planted

Tiny cat grass seeds 

in a makeshift flower pot. 

No need for a green thumb 

or a wide acre of soil 

only this little pot filled with 

soil for the little seeds to be 

harvested by my kitty’s sharp teeth.

“Grass must bring life.”

~ Susan L. Marshall,

All the Hope We Carry

A Pop-up Village

coprinopsis atramantaria

You can’t hear them

No one knows they’re there

This pop-up village in the grass

after wild rains have passed.

“Fungi are the grand recyclers of the planet 

and the vanguard species in habitat restoration.”

~ Paul Stamets, mycologist and entrepreneur

Still Growing

January 29, 2024

I only wish that potato plants had tendrils so this determined guy had something to climb with! Admittedly, I feel just like this plant - still growing with heart and hands as tendrils.

January 12, 2024

“The greatest thing in this world is 

not so much where we stand as 

in what direction we are moving,”

~ Johann wolfgang von Goethe

Missed the Memo!

A potato plant - I think. This plant was not paying attention to the weather as plants are known to do. About a month ago, it sprouted. I had no idea what it was, but decided to let it keep growing. Because it rose from the soil right beside the Hens and Chicks ‘mom’, I thought maybe that’s what it was. But no, the stem just kept growing. In the last week, it has leafed out ~ barely ~ but continued to grow, despite the frost on the window. And the fact that, I have not watered the soil much because of the succulents there! This is one confused potato! 

Where did it come from? I had planted some sprouted potatoes almost a year ago. When I prepared the soil for the succulents, I thought I had all the old sprouts out. Wrong. I guess I’ll just see what happens to it - whether it's a potato or not. 

“But is there no intent of an analogy 

between man’s life and the seasons?”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hens and Chicks

A wanna be gardener, to be like many in my farming family, I do keep trying. Still haven’t adjusted to container gardening. It seems so confining! These 8 Hens and Chicks had been confined to a very small pot that I purchased late this summer. Don’t know what my idea was, but I’ve always loved these little succulents. Today, I spread a Canadian Tire flyer on my cupboard and freed them, dirt and all. They were getting increasingly dry, not to mention crowded. Once I separated them all out I found the mother plant and provided a separate pot away from the crowd of kids she had around her. Right now they all look quite happy in there new and spacious homes. Now to see if I can keep them all alive and healthy! 

"Gardening is learning, learning, learning. 

That's the fun of them. You're always learning." 

~ Helen Mirren

A Spot of Colour

Attention to the details of colour draws my eye every time. This orphaned set of fuzzy leaves on a long drying stem needed a place to rest. Getting them home, I really didn’t know whether I could keep them alive or not. I just put the long stem in an unused spice bottle full of water to see what would happen. I just about forgot it!

Two days ago, when I did give it my attention, that spot of beautiful colour surprised me. A tiny perfectly formed flower bud! I have since transferred that charming greenery to some soil to see if I really have saved it. I’ve supported it with rocks and am keeping moist. The little bud  doesn’t look too healthy, but I can only keep my fingers crossed.

“I grow plants for many reasons: to please my eye or to please my soul, 

to challenge the elements or to challenge my patience for novelty or 

for nostalgia, but mostly for the joy in seeing them grow.”

~ David Hobson, Garden writer

Author's note: sadly this stem with its beautiful bud, did not survive.

The Weather Deals

Endeavouring to play with the cards dealt can be most curious. This time it’s just weird. Two of the potatoes I stuck in the dirt last February just sprouted. Why did I plant potatoes in February in Saskatchewan? For February, it felt like it was almost spring? What do I do now? Let the beautiful plants keep growing? Pull them out? I guess I’ll just protect them from any frost, get them inside pretty soon - but I hear we’re due for some warm weather soon! 

Where is the dedication in all this? In my farmer genes. Haven’t much of a green thumb, but if the weather just hints at me, I’ll plant something!

“When all is said and done the weather and love are 

the two elements about which one can never be sure.”

~ Alice Hoffman,  Here on Earth

On an Afternoon Walk ~ Flamboyant!

When leaves on the trees and on plants are crumbling and fading, my colours are still brilliant. 

I do like to show off! 

I know it will soon be my turn to fade, but until then I’ll just bask in the ooh and aah of passersby.

“Although I behave in a quite reserved way in my personal life, 

give me a stage and I’ll be as flamboyant as I can.”

~ Danny Boyle

A Late Summer Garden

I avoided purchasing plants this spring. Wanted to evaluate the sun and wind on my patio. My plans? Planting should be in spring time………but after a twist of my arm - a very gentle twist - I accompanied my good friend Donna to the Plant Ranch. I wasn't going to buy anything. Just looking. But then I decided on a late summer garden: A Halpen Blue Hosta. Hens and Chicks just slipped in my hand. They both seemed to fit the bill. Both are hardy to this Hardiness Zone (3b), but I was told by the nursery owner that they may not make it through winter. So, they’ll have be houseplants part of the year! Or tucked in very carefully. (The skinny floppy plants are ginger shoots that have been pushed aside to accommodate the newcomer.)

“A late summer garden has a tranquility found no other time of year.”

~ William F. Longgood

Plant Ranch

5909 13th Avenue

Regina, Sask

Website: plantranchregina.ca

Bursting!

 

Summer’s not over

Fall’s not begun

Foliage is fading

Except this plant…….

It’s just bursting!

“Half the interest of a garden is the constant exercise of the imagination.”

~ Mrs. C.W. Earle, Pot-pourri from a Surrey Garden, 1897

Potato Weather

 

The balcony looked empty

except for a pot or two

They looked awfully lonely

So I planted a potato or two

whether they grew or not ~

but lightning, thunder and rain came down and my two little potatoes grew!

“Planting is not the end; it is only the beginning of planting.”

~Henry Sherman Adams, Making a Rock Garden

Deep Within

As our lives grow and mature, 

all can seem more crowded; 

yet growth shares vitality

from roots deep within.

And yet, 

each flower, each plant 

blossoms and grows from 

deep within your soul.

“Humankind has not woven the web of life. 

We are but one thread within it. 

Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. 

All things are bound together. All things connect.”

~ Chief Seattle

Joy

There are many joys in anyone’s life. The largesse of family.  The

warmth and outreach of friends. A new baby’s gurgling laugh. The unintelligible chatter and fanciful busyness of a toddler. Trees that sway in the wind. The roll and frothing curl of the ocean’s wave. The soaring flight of a flock of geese or the dip and swerve of a flock of swallows.

Another joy not so obvious or grand is the new tiny new leaves a plant. When I returned home yesterday, I felt this tiny burst of joy. My Jade plant was threatened, by me, a couple of months ago. Sternly, I looked it square in its shrivelled, grey leaves and said: ‘Live and grow or join grass clippings on the compost heap’. I have been known to kill many a Jade plant, aloe plant or any other plant that is ‘easy’ to grow. Taking a risk, I poured an entire half cup of water on it. Soon its leaves began to fill out and turn from grey to green.

My tiny burst of joy yesterday? Tiny budding leaves peeking out on my thick and succulent Jade plant. They really are easy to grow! Let them be, water them sparingly and tell them they are truly a joy.

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”

~ John Keats, Endymion: A Poetic Romance

Adventuring We Go

 

Heat turned down on summer,

wind in the trees, clouds in the sky

a peek from the sun warms the day 

and we’re off!

Lunch with a friend at Smitty’s and a trip to The Plant Ranch at 5909 13th Ave filled my afternoon.  With no intention to buy anything….at all……really……and yet a Black-eyed Susan found it’s way into my possession. I did need another pot so had to buy one! Stones in the bottom, potted with new soil and watered, my rather bent but healthy purchase was home. It did need support to stand straight. A search in my house revealed two pseudo cattails with long strong, straight stems! It pleases me to have my favourite bright flowers on my porch. 

“Some adventures require nothing more than a willing heart
and the ability to trip over the cracks in the world.”

~ Seanan McGuire, Down Among the Sticks and Bones

Below the Stars

 

Rescued

A train whistles in the night,

rumbles and clacks over

the rustling of cornstalks

drying and dried of life;

tomato plants sprawl silently

beneath scrappy blankets,

protected against early frost,

in a small garden lying

below the stars of autumn

“…there is a harmony

In autumn, and a lure in the sky....”

~ Percey Bysshe Shelley

Author's note: Inspired by an evening at home in Milestone, Sk

Chapter One, Episode 46 - Setting It Up - Situationally Theirs

June 21, 2020

Review, Edit and Update:
After yesterday's review, I've followed the same path today. I reviewed my online post and my personal file. This posted version had been properly and completely edited for typos and unnecessary bits. Could the word crafting be different? What I have learned in this gigantic writing exercise that word crafting can always be different.

Setting It Up

Dez and Emmie had been out to a country nursery for seed potatoes and some bedding plants. They were going to have their own small garden plot. Samuel, Emmie’s gardener, had indeed created another small garden as Mrs. Beaufort had asked. She didn't seem sure what she was going to do with it, but Samuel didn’t ask. Just marked it off and got it ready for planting. To get to the nursery, the two sisters had to drive on a gravel road. On the way back to the estate, Dez heard a ping, ping, thunk from below and called Giles right away. 

“Giles can you meet us at the estate garage. I think there may be a hole in the oil pan…not that I know much about cars, but……….  You’re on your way out there now? Ok we’ll be there in about 5.”

Giles had received a distress call from James. All he would tell him was that it was about the picnic and a table. He told him to get the coffee on and he’d be there soon. He needed to check on one of the estate vehicles before he came in. Giles grinned. He’d known James Digby for years and had never seen him in such a state. He had been getting crankier over the last couple of years, but thought it was just about getting well into his sixties. Then the pandemic restrictions scattered everyone. Giles and Melanie had their kids to entertain them and drive them mad. James lived on his own. He actually seemed more distracted in just the last week. But, he’d go see what this distress call was all about. Probably about Martha. James misses her! I hadn’t thought about that. At work together almost every day for all these years. No wonder he’s been all tied in knots. Giles grin just got bigger. I wonder if he’s talked to Cook yet. That may have turned him inside out. Giles parked at the back, just as Emmie and Dez arrived. 

“Park it in the garage, Emmie. My tools are in there. Where did you go that you were driving on gravel?”

“Are you familiar with the nursery out on Benson Road? The road to it from the highway is all gravel and not the best road. The municipality really needs to do something to take care of the ruts.” Although Emmie drove the Honda often, it was her first trip to that nursery. They had good reputation for well started bedding plants. Dez and Emmie had been taking a trip down memory lane to the days when they helped their father plant the garden. They were very young and loved using their very own garden tools. Emmie was the one who said “Let’s plant our own garden, Dez!” 

“Are you sure? You’ll get in the dirt and mud. I’ll bet you don’t have any garden clothes.”

“These jeans are old jeans so, they have officially become my garden clothes. Come Dez, it’s be fun!” And away they went. Like a couple of kids, they made their purchases and returned to the estate with their prizes. “Here Giles, I’ll give you the keys and let you park it where you need it. Just give us a few minutes to get our potatoes and bedding plants out.”

“Here. Put them in here.” Giles brought them a wheel barrow kept beside the garage. “You can’t carry all those plants out in one go.” He helped them load their plants in the wheelbarrow and once they were on their way to the orchard, he drove the Honda into the garage. Checking underneath, he could find no holes, only a bit of a dent. He slid a piece of cardboard beneath to catch any oil leaks he may have missed. Time for coffee and a chat with James. 

~~~~

“Coffee ready, James?” Giles walked into the kitchen. The aroma of fresh coffee told him that it was. Two mugs were on the table. “James? Where are you?”

“Right here, Giles.” James walked out of his office. “I was just getting caught up on some paper work. I took some work home with me when we left, but there were still some issues waiting for me to clear up. This pandemic has certainly turned everything around. Thanks for coming so quickly, Giles. Any problems with the vehicle you checked?”

Giles was surprised. James seemed back to his old self. In charge and in control. He sounded a little off balance when he had called. “Vehicle is ok, James. You had me worried. You really sounded rough when you called.” Giles poured their coffee, got cream out of the refrigerator and sat down at the table.

“Giles, I’ve thought about this whole thing. I’ve been nervous as a cat for days now and I don’t like it. I never have liked it, although I don’t suppose anyone does. Anyway, I did talk to Cook yesterday. I was incredibly nervous having to tell her about Martha. She was good about it and will make the picnic lunch, but did manage to tease me a bit. I’ve also thought about where Martha and I should have our picnic.”

“Where? Out in the apple orchard. The trees are really coming into blossom.” Giles grin materialized again.

“No. I did consider that, but I think under the old redwood. We’d have good shade there. But what I need from you is a picnic table. I can certainly get down on a blanket, but sitting for a while then trying to get up again would not be very graceful or comfortable. I suspect the same is true for Martha.”

“I can do that but I’ll need some help with getting it out there. It’s heavy table. What prompted your distress call, James?” Giles was puzzled, his grin faded and his brow wrinkled.

“Well, it was certainly appropriate talking to Cook. She has known us for years. I guess I just needed to talk this over with you. I will enlist Brigitte to help you - she’s a good strong girl. I thought of Samuel, but I’m trying to keep this all in the family, so to speak. He is seldom here and then he’s out in the garden or orchard. I don’t really know him.”

“So you are still nervous, James.”

“Well, yes. The other issue is when we’ll have this picnic. I’ve decided that on the day of the Staff meeting, which will be mid week, I’ll have the picnic the same day. If you, Cook and Brigitte know about it, then, I think I wouldn’t be as nervous. Oh, I don’t know, Giles. What do you think?”

“So Staff meeting in the morning, then the picnic. I guess you have to figure out how you’re going to get Martha out there. What if she has other plans?”

Just then, Dez and Emmie came in the back door, laughing and talking. “You’re soaked, Emmie!”  

“You soaked me!……Oh, hello Giles. What are you and Digby up to?” The sisters had heard the words ‘Martha’…’picnic’ ……’under the redwood’. Curious but not wanting to pry, they merely glanced at each other. Dez was more than curious. The old redwood was where she saw the girl on the swing.

“O divine art of subtlety and secrecy.”

~ Sun Tzu