Just Growing May 2022

“You look happy,” he said with a smile in his voice, and punctuated his comment with a chuckle. I was riding past him on my bike and had given a nod of greeting, unaware of the expression on my face. I was coming home after time spent in my garden.

Gardens do that to me. Whether they are my own or I am visiting someone else’s. The sight of growing things, or even the contemplation of things to come in a garden still blanketed with snow, makes me smile.

On Thursday May 5th, 2022, a few of us from St Margaret’s got together to do a bit of work in the gardens. I was delighted to see smiles on their faces as well. People came and went as their schedules allowed and it was a beautiful thing! I am often focused on gardening and forget to take photos. Fortunately someone else thought of it part way through the day.

One of the raised beds had grass and creeping Charlie growing within, so a lady, with the same weeding philosophy as myself, set to work and eliminated as many of the pesky roots as she could. Then she proceeded to dig around the bed to halt future encroachment. Thank you for your hard work Lynn.

The next people to arrive were Heather, Nathan and Jane. While the lovely ladies planted peas near the large trellis, Nathan finished installing the holders for the hoops of the greenhouse cover. From there he turned his attention to turning the compost.

It was about then that Hanny came by and we began to make a plan for the square foot garden that I had just partitioned off. We said goodbye to the family and began planting spinach, arugula and lettuce. Watering complete, we parted ways.

What took about six hours to accomplish as a group would have taken me much longer to do by myself. Not only that, many more people were smiling and visiting as we worked together. Thanks to everyone who was able to come out.

I will keep you posted about the next planting day. Much depends on the weather.

Until then, keep smiling.

Peace,

Nora Hogman

Looking Ahead:

The next planting day is scheduled for Tuesday, May 17th weather permitting.

Contact Nora (mamaerik@gmail.com) if you would like to get involved with this ministry.