Creative Nonfiction by Andrea Badgley
A lot has happened in the garden since my last update in May. Flowers have blossomed and gone to seed, and now that we’re in August, butterflies are everywhere. Everything starts out so fresh and clean in June, and by August things are looking pretty raggedy. But August is when the butterflies are laying eggs. … Continue reading The summer garden
My fiddling in the flower beds is never done. These past two days, though, rain has forced me indoors to watch the garden instead of work in it. I went out today between showers to get some photos. Continue reading Garden update in photos: May 5
I spent last week’s daylight hours almost exclusively outside. I drank my morning coffee indoors, then put on my gardening gloves and hat and spent the days digging, carting, planting, and shoveling. I calculated on my gardening blog that I spread more than 2 tons of mulch in about 3 days. I was exhausted by … Continue reading Buds and blooms at the end of gardening vacation
As is often the case on weekends, I’m at the competition pool. The roads are sheets of gray sleet, tree branches and the black iron railing outside the aquatic center are topped with a line of white snow, and the aqua pool below is splashing with kids warming up. We weren’t sure if the meet … Continue reading Planning a garden from the pool deck
It’s rough getting winter storm warnings in autumn. The kids were out of school yesterday, with inclement weather days chipping away at their summer break before we even get to December. But ice sure is pretty. Continue reading November ice storm
Last winter I obsessed over the garden. I scoured seed catalogs, bought graph paper to design flower beds, stood at the back door staring at the bare hill and tried to visualize what it would look like with plants on it. Now that everything is dead and gardening season is over, I wanted to take … Continue reading The garden through the year: monthly comparison photos
