This Year's Garden Has Been Berra, Berra Good To Me

Anyone old enough or versed enough in tv trivia should remember the tag line of comedian Garrett Morris' "legendary" baseball character, Chico Escuela, from the old (classic & best) Saturday Night Live, as referenced in this post's title.  Well, this season it applies more aptly to my garden than ever before. I don't know whether it was the uncanny - for New Jersey anyway - frigid and snow-covered winter which helped to provide a natural mulch for my perennials or that after all these years my faithful and laborious additions of homemade compost have finally struck "black" gold in my naturally sandy (aka: cruddy) soil. But, my garden has never been so down-right, upright, bee-ooo-tiful! **Insert huge, shit-eating grin here** I've also never - EVER - seen such ginormous, 1950's-nuclear-monsterized worms in my life! Without the old fish story analogy, I've yet to dig trowel into the soil for the simplest of tasks and not had a worm the size of a garter snake slither out from that recently unearthed...uh....earth.

Plants have bloomed that haven't bloomed since I first put them in.  There has been a lot of "Oh, so that's what you're supposed to look like"-moments.  I was particularly pleased by my peony's surprising  presentation of three gorgeous blooms.  Granted, only three.  But when you consider there was nary a hint of one in the five years since it was planted - and sported only one even at that time -  then three is two more than I've ever seen on it.  My Graham Thomas' Unnamed yellow rose also didn't immediately succumb to blackspot and produced not only a healthy abundance of foliage but so many fat, cushy and fragrant blooms that I felt extravagant enough to cut several and bring them inside leaving the plant still brimming with creamy, yellow globes.


Yes, Virginia, it's been mucho, mucho long since I've made a post here. All's I can say is that my garden has presented me with such a plethora of goodies and lushness it's like a starving, chocolate hound let loose in a Godiva consignment shop. In other words: so much to consume....so little time and an endless desire to gorge myself with no regard for the inevitable stomach ache aftermath. In my 'garden gorging' scenario, however, back and neck spasms and a day or two hugging the heating pad are usually the inevitable aftermaths.

But despite the gorging,  I must give credit where credit is due (in this case it's The Good Lord). I've mercifully been spared having to suck back too many Advils and the heating pad has remained cool for the most part.

Hence, there's been little time - or desire - to spend inside on this clickity-clack thing typing about my garden when I could be outside IN it. The only reason I'm posting today is because the thunderclaps ushered me inside and while rain has never dampened (oooh, pun) my spirits or work ethic in the garden, thunder and lightening and gardening in the nearby shadows of 50-foot very swayable and precarious oaks does have a way of making me think twice about doing just one more eeeny, weeny little bit of moving, planting, digging or you name it out there.

Coincidentally, rain (the gentle, steady good kind) has also been "Berra, Berra" good to me this year. It's enabled me to successfully accomplish some major transplants that otherwise would have had to wait either for cooler weather or depend upon the dictates of the weatherperson's precipitation prognostications, which aren't exactly consistently reliable to say the least.  Then there's always the mad dash outside at a moment's rainy notice.  Fortuitously, I always keep a spare trowel and sturdy, waterproof gloves tucked in a pocket of my gardening-designated rainslicker for just such unexpectedly opportune transplanting-moments.  Even then, I usually wind up only being able to move one pathetic, small thing and have to baby that under shade cloth with daily drenchings to even hope for its survival. Nope, again giving credit to the RainMan In The Heavens, I've literally had days to plan, plant, and move again. Who, me? Move plants more than once? "Bwaaahahahaaaaaa!!!"

I suppose with all this bragging should come even more pictures to put my garden money where my mouth is. So try this slideshow on for size.  It's but a mere drop in the bucket...but I wouldn't want to overwhelm you with such abundant bee-ooty.  **Insert yet another shit-eating grin here**. 
Mouse over picture for "Help" menu  and/or use your computer's "next" arrow to advance