Moon is up, birds are singing

I’m waiting for the sun to rise. Outside, the sky is a deep dusky blue. Soon it will brighten to pink, and I’ll be able to see my new little bird bath in the rose bed, and the fresh mulch I spread yesterday out front.

My gardening vacation is underway. I had 15 yards of mulch delivered Friday. I couldn’t start shoveling right away, though — I needed to weed, plant whatever new stuff I could get my hands on this early in the season, and fertilize. Then I could start mulching.

Saturday, as soon as I dropped our daughter at swim practice, I sped away to the nursery to see what perennials they had in stock. I blew my budget, of course. The bowl of my beautiful big birdbath cracked and then fell away in our recent winter storm. Watching birds splash in water is one of my favorite past times, so I had to replace the big bath, it was not optional. And then there’s the new little bird bath, which was too cute for me to pass up. And also, new plants. The nursery often runs out of some of the harder-to-find plants I want if I put them off too long, so of course I had to buy all the stuff on my list right now if they had them in stock. Plus a few others that weren’t on my list. And it turns out the size of the garden now requires two bags of fertilizer, not just one.

I tell myself it’s okay that the garden is more expensive now. The diversity of plants is better than just a giant lawn, right? I’m creating habitat! Birds, bees, butterflies, bunnies – all are welcome here. It’s like contributing to a nature conservancy, except right here in my yard.