Enjoy Simple Pleasures (2) - or What have I changed today?

It was a lovely dry day on Sunday so I decided to get out in the garden and tidy up the scabby lavender patch; I didn't get around to sorting it out in autumn. The lavender and rosemary looked ropey and covered in dead bits, and between them chick-weed was running amok! Also, much grass seed from lawn repairs had crept in amongst the lavender - apparently finding it easier to grow in the border than in the lawn!  Sod's Law!

I find weeding and pruning very relaxing.  In fact I enjoy many kinds of manual tasks- filling a skip, creosoting a fence..... I think because my work (work for a living) involves a lot of thinking, it creates a balance doing something more physical.  So I get pleasure from doing the weeding and a sense of achievement from the result - I see it myself and hear others say "that looks great".  I used a few spare bricks to edge the lawn, set a few incense sticks going, lit a candle and enjoyed seeing the results of my work:

Once all the debris and rubbish was cleared away, a simple pleasure .........

 

.... some of the first signs of spring - daffodil shoots starting to peek through. This really made me smile and is one of those simple pleasures.  Seeing the winter change into spring.  Feeling that I've made a change in the garden that is helping to welcome the spring, and with it the promise of sunshine, lighter nights and cups of tea in the garden.

Seeing the daffodil shoots reminded me that I bought some hyacinth bulbs last year and didn't plant them.  I found them in the shed and planted them. I'm not sure if they'll grow being planted this late.  

They looked a bit sad and forgotten and were a bit mouldy, but nature is amazing and I hope to be posting a photo in a couple of months time of my hyacinths.

I was off work on Monday so I set about the other side of the garden, taking the chick weed, nettles and straying grass out from amongst the heathers and the miniature trees that commemorate various dogs that we have loved over the years.  

I felt great about being out in the fresh air, which is a change from the work environment, and about getting rid of all the rubbish, making space for some bedding plants and looking forward to spending time relaxing in the garden.  I find gardening relaxing in it's own right - active relaxation - that also improves the environment in which I can just relax with a cup of tea or a glass of wine when the weather is warmer. Perhaps in the summer we'll have the cake stand out in the garden and have afternoon tea on the lawn!