Sunday in the garden

Sunday in the garden

Sundays are our time to drink coffee, eat a leisurely lunch and read the newspaper, skipping the by now frantic pre-election coverage.

There may even be little guilt-free nodding off over the book I am reading, Desert Solitaire, by Edward Abbey (http://www.abbeyweb.net/). Who could object to a little surreptitious shut-eye on a slow Sunday? Randal is doing his nodding-off stretched out on the bed, blissfully guilt-free. Rocky the cat, points no paw, no doubt believing his humans have finally learned to live the good life. Napping is Rocky’s religion, fervently practiced for hours at the time.

Sundays are also a time to take stock of what is happening in the garden and to make plans for what needs to be done next. The seed catalogs are months away; maybe I’ll dig out the ragged ones from last January and start making plans.

But . . . first on my to-do list should be the pulling up of some of the grasses, now frost-glazed, that have invaded the garden and the uprooting of the definitely-dead zinnias. But, never being one to garden on the schedule of the shoulds, I wait, wanting to allow the birds their last possible chance to munch any and all seed heads. Besides, procrastination has its rewards; the zinnias I enjoyed this summer were the product of my laziness last fall; all of them were volunteers—and very welcome and beautiful ones at that.

We subscribe to The Atlanta Journal Constitution. My favorite Sunday columnist is Charles Seabrook, whose writings about nature (animals, plants and the heavens) keep us informed of everything from the arrival time of incoming bird species to the meteor showers and phases of the moon. Today’s column mentioned that volunteers are needed for the native grasses reseeding project at Sprewell State Park and Panola Mountain State Park. Aha, leaving seed heads as I do, must be a good thing. My laziness is vindicated.

Copyright 2008 by Edith Flowers Kilgo. All rights reserved. May be used only with permission and attibution.