Sowing Seeds

And this isn’t a metaphor, it’s what I did today. I did a lot of other things too. It was a good day, and I’m tired at the end of it. 

It started, though, doing one of the things I love best, sitting on the porch with my First Reader, watching the sun come up and chatting. 

My original plan for the day involved volunteering with the Master Naturalists, but that was canceled due to rain and muddy, sloppy conditions. Instead, I had a whole day of nothing ahead of me! I promptly shifted things around in my head, and decided I’d take time to do something I really wanted to do. Plus, catching up on house cleaning without having to rush, since I had time again. I went out and spent some time alone in a nature reserve, taking photos of flowers. It was cool and there weren’t a lot of insects moving around, so I’ll have to go back again soon… 

On the way home I picked up a flag for the house, something we’ve meant to do for a while and the Memorial Day weekend seemed like a very good time to finally get it hung out front. While I was doing that, I also picked up a few more packs of flower seeds, because I had finally managed to move the mountain of mulch I’d gotten from the tree trimmers. Only took two weeks, and it’s been great exercise. The lawn is very dead where it was, and I’m not unhappy about that. Instead, I took advantage of the prepared spot and remaining bits of loose mulch to sow flower seeds. My own mix of flower seeds, rather than a generic wildflower mix. For one thing, I have a lot of packets of bluebonnet seed, and I put some of those in even if it’s not the ideal season for sowing those. It’s been so cool and wet this spring, who knows? 

It was also a good excuse to use up a number of old packets of seeds, either opened or not, mixing them all up and then taking handfuls to scatter over the bare patch. I walked all over them once I’d sowed them. This serves to press them down into contact with the moist soil. Finally, I raked the remaining mulch up and over the seeds, to hopefully keep the birds from eating all of them. We shall see. I’ll know in a couple of weeks I think. Some of the seeds are fast germinators, like the poppies and bachelor’s buttons. Most of what I sowed were annuals, since in the long run I plan to establish Texas native perennials like the bluebonnets. 

A few handfuls of seeds, so much potential. My garden is doing well, and with all the mulching in, hopefully the weeds won’t overtake it… I’ve been spending the first hour after I’m done with work for the day working in the garden. Mostly, hauling mulch recently. That was certainly a workout! But also, weeding and watering, chores that never end. Like laundry. Which I need to go fold now, so I can go to bed soon. I’m tired! But I am very happy.