Spring and Second Chances

SPRING

What a word.For us gardeners who have just suffered through a seemingly endless winter,Spring,is indeed a magical word.It has the power to lift us from our icy torpor and get our green thumbs twitching.We can just about smell the rich earth our hands will soon be digging in and almost taste the first vine ripened tomato.

Spring is a time of renewal,rebirth and for us gardeners a time for second chances.

During our forced Winter hibernation,we pondered last seasons gardening activites and conteplated the garden to come.Be it the vegetable garden,perennial border,rock garden,flowering shrubs,trees or lawns,we have made plans for all.

Gardening is not a one chance to get it right sort of activity.It's an art not a science.We gain experience from our mistakes and what went wrong can be set right.A vegetable garden epitomizes the concept of second chances.Each season begins with a blank slate.We may have made some mistakes but we begin anew.All is forgiven.Gardening is not a hobby like building a ship in a bottle where once the cork is put in the bottle the project is completed.Gardening is an ongoing endeavor bordered only by the limits of our imaginations.

With the arrival of Spring we continue to tend what we have started and set our new plans in motion.Perhaps we will grow an heirloom vegetable we have been meaning to try or find room for that award winning perennial we read about.We might plant a shrub or even a fruit tree.We might be undertaking larger projects like installing a pond,building raised beds or,as in my case,planting a fern garden with 8 different species.

No,we wont complete or even start all of the plans we made over the long Winter but we will take a good shot at it.Once again we will have our share of successes and failures just like last season and we will accept what comes.We gardeners have learned that patience is not just a virtue,it's a must.We patiently waited for the new season and we will make the most of it.

The sound of Winter winds blowing through bare limbed trees has been replaced by the sound of trickling water.The Snowdrops have pushed up through the last of the snow and the Robins have returned at last.

At the race track they say,"Gentlemen,start your engines!" I say,"Gardeners,start your composters!"

IT'S SPRING!