Back from holidays

We've been gone for two weeks.  We headed south to Yellowstone, passing through my parent's place on the way there, and stopping into my parent's "vacation home" on the way back.  It was a great time, but towards the end of it I started to have dreams about the garden.  My waking thoughts were worries about weeds, hail damage, continued deaths at the hands of the evil cutworms, etc.  My sleeping dreams actually showed wasted space.  Totally empty beds.  Places where I'd forgotten to plant anything, or had spaced things way too far apart. 

Dreams are funny things. 

This is what I actually came back to.   

I know that the nomination for the citywide "Yards in Bloom" contest just comes from the president of our gardening club, but it's still flattering.   It was a nice welcome home.

Before even reaching the front door, I had dirt under my clean fingernails again, because this is the site that met us.

My dreams of empty space were very unfounded.  It's tough to find the soil.

The phrases that come to mind are "Joyful Abundance" and "Chaotic Exuberance".  Although the growth explosion makes me smile, there is a LOT of work to be done in order to find the plants I want to be in my yard.  

It's best seen from a distance. 

Now this garden doesn't even look good from a distance! 

It's going to take more than a bit of work to find the rows of peas, corn and carrots in there.