It’s early April in Vermont and after some snow overnight on Friday, it has been BEAUTIFUL weather the past 2 days. So beautiful, in fact, that I could almost mistake it for spring!
I loved this spring day!
I hung laundry on the clothesline, raked leaves, scoped out the scene in the perennial beds to find daffodils, tulips, buttercups, day lilies and irises all poking their tiny leaves out of the soil and the clematis and lilacs are showing off some fresh new buds.
I could almost mistake this temporary burst of spring as a promise; a true arrival.
But I’ve been living in Vermont for 20 years now and I know better than to fall for April’s attempt to fool me.
It will be cold again. And soon.
Today, I feel like I got a head start, but I’m really just catching up on last year’s “project cleanups”.
Try as I might, the garden never seems to be properly put to bed in the fall.
There’s often a crop left unharvested; one that never reaches its full potential.
Some things simply don’t fit in the timeline.
I had high hopes for our little corner acre when we first moved in nearly 14 years ago.
A greenhouse, a terraced garden, a trellis covered in climbing roses and wisteria (perhaps a pipe dream in chilly VT!), but a truly authentic, lived-in garden doesn’t “just happen”.
Over the years I’ve toiled, tilled, transplanted and taken stock in my small stake of land.
I’ve watched the garden mature and change; outdo itself and underperform;
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by a mock orange that just “appeared” one year near my front porch and a plentiful patch of black raspberries that the birds planted for me.
(I’ve had my hard work ruined by critters and pests…and I’ve managed to reap some rewards, too.)
When another frost (or snow!) covers the garden in its chilly blanket, when the not-quite-spring weather inevitably greets us again, I will remind myself that “this too shall pass”.
Seasons change.
Spring shall come. The soil will be tilled, the seeds will be planted and the results will be unpredictable.
Deep roots need time to develop.
Such is true in growing gardens, and relationships, too.
A wedding day is a true beginning.
A marriage will grow and change with time. Always remember to till, plant seeds and take stock so that you may continue to bloom and grow!
xo. -A
