Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
First things first! We had our coffee, dressed in our gym costumes, and headed for the Wednesday workout. Today was our second day at the gym, and we are starting to move again!After the gym, we did our errands, and this morning, we had to go to the Orange Nursery on the other side of the Orange Traffic Circle. We needed some plants for the garden.
“A vegetable garden doesn’t just feed your body. It also feeds your soul” – Doug Green.
We went shopping.
The Silver Fox’s tummy was just big enough for our purchases.
Mary found some treasures.
As I unloaded the car, I heard our flags flapping in the breeze, so out came the camera. Next Sunday, May 12th, is Mother’s Day. We were just in time because this morning, we finally got Easter put away and moved upstairs into the ballroom.
Our flags are flying high.
The wheelbarrow was loaded and off for the 200-foot trip to the garden.
Mary went to the kitchen and fixed a great breakfast of bacon and eggs! She takes fantastic care of me!
Then, we go to work! Mary awaited my arrival in her gardening costume with her favorite gardening tool, THE AUGER.
Paul goes to work moving the newfound plants.
Our cleaning crew will be here at 1:00 pm, so we have time to work in the garden all afternoon. Mary will plant new cantaloupes, peppers, and peas, so she has her trusty hand-held auger with fully charged batteries.
Gardeners know all the dirt.
Mary has her favorite tool, the auger!
Mary has gardening down to a science: “The best way to garden is to put on a wide-brimmed straw hat and some old clothes. And with a hoe in one hand and a cold drink in the other, tell somebody else where to dig.”
Mary and her auger make the garden sound like a dentist’s office!
We designed the garden to make life “easy,” so we threw everything on the concrete. After a few hours in the hot sun, sweeping up and dropping in the can is easy.
We pull weeds/trim and drop them on the concrete; east to clean up!
Our neighbors seldom come home, and they encourage us to eat their oranges so they do not fall on the ground. We have oranges all summer long. Today, we picked about ten of them and munched on them all afternoon.
When we get thirsty, we go to the orange juice machine.
The sweetpeas are going wild. We must climb a small ladder to reach the top of the bush!
It looks pretty good after 4 1/2 hours of working in the garden.
At 5:00 pm, we declared victory because neither of us could move another step! We swept up the remains, and I washed everything down. No water went to waste; it ran into the back garden, where the grapes and lemons thrived.
We love the spring garden!
The cabbage is going great; friends and family have already picked several heads!
We will see corned beef shortly.
In a few weeks, we will begin harvesting!
Mary gets creative as the veggies are brought into the kitchen!
Our favorite is table grapes. We have six different kinds, and this is year two, so we will be eating table grapes all summer.
I’ve always been afraid of gardening. But then I decided to grow a pear.
Our grapes are coming along nicely.
Celery anyone? More importantly, cream cheese or peanut butter? Our celery had gone bonkers this year. We eat a lot of it, and it is still coming on string.
You know you’re a gardener when you’re happy to devote three months of your life growing tomatoes to save $1.27.
We need a peanut butter bush!
The second sweet pea is at the back of the watermelon/cantaloupe garden, and it also is overgrown. We had to cut it back so we could walk around.
Mary’s sweet peas are magnificent.
This is NOT a joke. We celebrate WNGD every year!
Did You Know? The first annual World Naked Gardening Day occurred on September 10, 2005. In 2007, the event date was moved to the first Saturday in May; as of 2018, the event still takes place on the first Saturday in May. In 2018, however, the New Zealand Naturist Federation adopted the last weekend in October as World Naked Gardening Day; this date was deemed better suited to the climate of the Southern Hemisphere. In Canada, the first Saturday in May can be pretty cool for naked gardening, so an alternative date for the first Saturday in June was suggested as Naked Canadian Gardening Day.
According to NBC’s Today, WNGD “has become an annual tradition celebrating weeding, planting flowers and trimming hedges in the buff. While it’s linked to a movement of nudists who promote wholesome and unashamed acceptance of the human body, the day is meant to be funny, lighthearted, and non-political.
I put up warning signs in English, such as rabbit, crow, sparrow, and several other languages, so as not to frighten the local wildlife.
I am practicing for Saturday, Mary 5th, World Naked Gardening Day!
See you Saturday??
