....a spring ritual

Yogis,
You can smell it in the air. It’s everywhere you look. It’s mulch season! One of spring’s rites of passage is upon us once again.

It’s manual labor so many have it done professionally. A truck rolls in filled to the brim. Five men (I never see women) jump out with rakes and leap into action. Hours later the yard is transformed. The remnants of winter whisked away and the spring plants proudly on display, framed by a dark thick layer of mulch.

I, however, for better or worse, choose to do it myself and this was the week. For those of you who mulch, you know it is a process…..

Let me preface this by saying that each year I do less mulching. Big open expanses require mega mulching. I figured out years ago that if you fill areas with plants you are rewarded with…..less bare ground, less weeds, less mulch. Each year I add a few more perennials and over time the gardens become fuller. Each plant gets larger and many are nice enough to add offspring which can then be moved to fill other areas.  As spring arrives, they all come right back. I love that!

The first step in the process is determining how much you need. I used to always get too much and the extra would sit in my yard all year and become the perfect home to mushrooms, insects and even an occasional snake. But buy too little and you are making multiple trips to the mobbed garden center. My week began with a trip to Home Depot where I settled on ten large bags of hardwood mulch (not enough.)

It sat in my car for a day and a half and six days later my car still smells of mulch. Noted.

Second, you must prepare the beds. It is oh so tempting to pretend you don’t see the spring weeds and start throwing mulch on top, hoping to smother them. No different than what we like to do with life’s struggles. Not a good plan in either case. To do it right you have to get down on hands and knees and dig out the stubborn ones. Pull out fallen leaves stuck in the base of the plants. Trim dead sections.

Third, getting the mulch to each of the areas that need it. Here is the upper body workout. Who knew mulch could be so darn heavy? Dead weight are the words that come to mind.

Only now is it time to mulch! 

I use the ‘by hand’ method. I like to be mindful of exactly where the mulch goes. I rip open the end of the bag and sit on it, taking out mounds and spreading them thoughtfully among the plants. It feels like a gift that I am giving each one individually. And no matter how many times I put my gardening gloves on, somehow they end up on the ground.

By the end each day my hands are raw and my fingernails black. There is no amount of soap that will make them appear clean. But they feel real. The hard work is the kick start my body needs each spring.

Once an area is done, I stand back and admire. Everything looks so fresh and clean. Several times a day I do a lap through the gardens.

Mulching is a process. I think it makes us feel in control. Like we are somehow taming nature and painting a picture in our yard of what we want. But we all know that like everything, it is impermanent. By mid-summer the weeds will have poked through, and the mulch will have lost its sheen.

But for now……..I sit on the deck with a beer and enjoy the view.

I need hand cream,
SARAH