This Gardening Thing

I have a garden on my balcony! It's not quite done yet; the last couple of planters need to be filled in and put in place. Andrea and Dan are coming over this afternoon to help with that. I am so excited to see them in place that I don't know if I can wait until 3:00 PM for them to show up. I might just sit out there and enjoy what is done already, perhaps with a Gin and Tonic.

Gardening is not, nor never really has been, a thing for me. I've always enjoyed the idea conceptually, planting a seed, watching it grow, enjoying the harvest. It's just that the whole dirt and flowers and weeds and watering stuff never really held much pleasure for me. It just seemed like a lot of work. Yes, gardens look lovely, and I truly appreciated the work my ex-wife did with flowers and plants. She was the natural gardener in our house. I was the heavy lifting kind of helper.

Something happened last year. I got a hanging basket or two, really enjoying the flowers and sunshine while sitting on my balcony. This year I decided to go to town with the project. There are now four box planters on my balcony railing, two complete and two for completion today. There are also two hanging baskets with a variety of flowers, hung low from the ceiling on chain so they are easy to see. There is a third one which I don't quite know what to do with. I'll decide that today. Finally, there is a pepper plant, complete with a pepper, and a beefsteak tomato plant, both set into the end of the balcony against a climbing trellis.

If I am still alive next year, and capable of doing or directing the work, I'm already thinking of doing something different, perhaps a potted clematis for that trellis, and maybe cherry tomatoes in one of the rail planters. It has gotten me, this gardening thing. I kind of like it.