Merry Christmas, dear gardening friends! May you enjoy health, happiness, and family and friends to share it all with! And on a snowing, blowing January eve, may you blessed with a cozy home, a hot cup of tea, and a stackful of seed catalogues to enjoy at your leisure!
So what would we wish for, gardeners, for the twelve days of Christmas? If we were to buy the traditional 鈥渢welve days of Christmas鈥� gifts, it would cost us almost $40,000, and I can鈥檛 even imagine what a mess all those swans-a-swimming and geese-a-laying would make!
So let鈥檚 make our own gardening 鈥渢welve days鈥� list!
One of the first things I鈥檇 pick is a good pair of secateurs. These are a garden tool that gets used every time we set foot in our gardens. Next, a good pair of gardening gloves. Between working in wet weather, cold weather, with plants that have thorns and barbs, our hands can use a little protection.
Number three: a good garden hoe. Whether you go with one of the famous Japanese hoes or a good sturdy regular hoe, it鈥檚 another item that is always in use. Number four: a garden rake. My favorite is a bamboo rake, which gathers up debris but doesn鈥檛 seem as damaging as a metal rake. Number five: a good strong digging fork. This is especially good in the spring for dividing plants, and in the fall for planting in new perennials!
Number six: a composter of some type. Whether it is a large bin or small barrel, they are wonderful for making brown gold for our gardens to boost our soil鈥檚 health and productivity.
Number seven: a collection of garden pots in various sizes. Planting in containers is such a wonderful idea when we have limited space, or when we aren鈥檛 able to garden in the traditional way. Number eight: a good garden pail with a sturdy handle. So simple but so useful for hauling water, holding pulled weeds, and a myriad of other uses.
Number nine: a birdbath. A birdbath attracts the beautiful birds to our gardens, wonderful for their melodious song but also for the many benefits that birds bring with them, such as eating certain bugs. A garden without birds would be a ghostly, sterile place indeed! Number ten: a wheelbarrow. Even in a small yard, a wheelbarrow is such an energy saver. If you have to get something from here to there, you could make one trip with a wheelbarrow or seven trips carrying armloads of stuff. I know which I would pick!
Number eleven: wind chimes. I can鈥檛 think of anything more soothing or 鈥淶en-like鈥� in the garden than wind chimes. We have several sets, each with different tones, and they are beautiful to create a certain ambience in the garden. And number twelve: garden seating, so that every once in a while we can sit down, take a breath, and savor the beauty of nature around us.
Dear gardeners, I wish you health, joy and serenity in your garden. Whatever size garden we have, we are custodians of a small piece of our earth. Care for it gently. And to gardening friends who are dealing with loss or sadness this Christmas, my prayers are with you. The holidays are not always merry and bright. But spring does come again to aching hearts. I hope that once winter passes, and spring arrives, the garden will give you that special space of peace and healing.
On behalf of my precious hubby Keith, and on behalf of the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society, we wish you a blessed Christmas! Visit us at www.yorktonhort.ca and have a great holiday week!
