The Mid-Winter Maddening Mayhem and Mania of a Maine Gardener

Hello again,

KCB is a professional gardener and friend who is does wonderful work in the Greater Portland area. We are honored to have her as part of our Skillin's Garden Log family!

Greetings Skillin’s Garden Log family……….

Being a huge fan of this site I just had to be a part.

I did make a cameo appearance recently in the ‘newspaper for mulch’ question. There is one point I must clarify. I meant to say that I water and soak the ground before a heavy hand weeding.

There is no other feeling in the world like reaching a gloved hand into the mud, grabbing a weed by its tap root or invasive runners, and slowly pulling it and all its glorious roots completely from the earth. If you don’t mind mud, this is the way to weed. Of course, having the Mays and Junes of the past few years, simply weed in the rain. Water-proof gear, head to toe, not optional.

My writings, not unlike Dale’s, will be sprinkled with memories and dreams topped with information, all in a gardening base.

Let’s go……….

The Mid-Winter Maddening Mayhem and Mania of a Maine Gardener!

Living on the Eastern Edge of Munjoy Hill, my neighbors known and unknown have been cursing the snow. Digging out, parking bans, endless shoveling, streets nearly impassible. You get the picture.

Not me, I smile. That is after I dig out, shovel, and take my life into my hands navigating the narrow streets. I look at all the buried beds and early spring blooming shrubs and think ‘blanket’, ‘protection’, ‘insulation’ and ‘nourishment’.

‘Nourishment?’ The Gardens that are left in my care receive their seashell rich compost in the late fall. I am programmed to perform this ritual precisely before I or the ground freezes, while waiting until all threat of new growth has passed. Sigh. As I think back, the recent fall offered about a 10 minute window for this task.

Today my focus is on winter. Winter in Maine. What energizes local gardeners between the Holiday Happenings and the Spring Sprouting ?

Some are lucky enough to spend the time in much warmer climes. Others drool over seed catalogs and mark off days on a calendar. I am in awe of those who look to the first nicking & scratching of a tender seed as a right of passage. They feel exuberance at the first emergence of green. They nurture & nourish the sprouts until faced with the daunting choice; which tender seedlings will survive for future prosperity while others are sacrificed to alleviate over-crowding.

Reluctantly I now reveal to the world, or at least the corner of the world populated by our readers, I am not a sower of seeds. No grow lamps, peat pots or miniature greenhouses can be found in my 2nd floor apartment.

There must be others like me? What keeps our blood flowing? What motivates us to continue life until we can finally don our straw hat, slather on sunscreen and pull on the first non-insulated glove of the season?

Are there any others who read seed catalogs just as a source of information? On occasion admit to the pang of parenthood and ponder as to the best spot for a grow light, followed by clarity causing the feeling to wane?

Winters, once upon a time, caused many a sullen mood while watching any gardening or landscaping programming. It wasn’t fair that all these smiling happy faces were digging in the dirt, installing, pruning & primping beds. Each ½ show at it close revealed an out of door oasis that I would have enjoyed if I wasn’t so stuck in the ‘woe is me’ mode.

I felt deprived. Less than whole.

The time between recycling the dangerously dry Christmas trees and first crocus sighting seemed to drag. I was restless, even my over 40 hour a week corporate job couldn’t fill the void. Perhaps I would just have to move to the South West Coast of England. In a future writing I will reveal more about this choice.

Well, I am still living in Portland Maine, a professional gardener and love winter almost as much as ‘the season’. What metamorphosis occurred? It happened about the same time gardening overtook passion to emerge as a calling.

No longer are my inner voices taunting me with phrases such as ‘who needs all this snow?’ ‘January has to be the longest month’. ‘Is my complexion as gray as my mood?’

JANUARY IS NOW A TIME TO REGROUP AND ENERGIZE. Not unlike our woody and ornamental perennials. Our ‘friends’.

Maine’s winter weather is not completely void of causes for concern. We’ve experienced later and warmer than ‘normal’ falls. Bitter cold without benefit of snow cover. Early freezes, late frosts. Yes, winters such as these, are not the best for our dormant friends. Yet I don’t worry.

I am speaking purely as an ornamental gardener.

Weather and Nature are things we have no real control over. I’m not speaking of publicized efforts to stop ‘global warming’ and/or ‘climate change’. Weather will do what it will do. Plant well, work hard, nourish and maintain. These tasks are within our reach. For the rest nature will take its course. Gardening, Winter and living in Maine taught me this lesson. In gardening and in life, it works.

Appreciating winter resulted in a more patient gardener. A more creative gardener. A gardener more in tune with the phases and life stages of gardening and self. The winter landscape offers so much. The pace of nature is slower. It speaks in whispers.

I no longer channel all my energy for the months of May through September. I now offer it to every month of the year. In doing so it seems I have more than enough energy to spare. I now take the time to ‘smell the roses’, because I took the time to appreciate the season when I can not.

KCB
for Skillin's Greenhouses
January 11, 2008