In a Seattle Summer Garden

For the past fifteen years, I have been an avid gardener wherever I’ve lived. When we bought our present home in 1998 in Seattle’s Madrona neighborhood, one of the things I was looking for was a yard I could garden in. We found it in spades. I have a perennial garden in the front, berries growing in the side yard and vegetables and more perennials growing in back. I’ve devoted enormous amounts of time to tending garden.

But with my son now in his third year and me providing him half time childcare; and my blog taking up almost all the rest of my free time, my garden has fallen into some disrepair. Weeds are overtaking some of my favorite plantings. I try to keep up, but I just don’t give it enough time or effort to make a serious dent in the ravenous weeds. I feel guilty. The garden still looks good as these recent pictures will attest. But I know in my heart (and my beloved plants know in their hearts) that I’m not doing right by them.

I’ve thought of hiring a part time gardener to come once a week to keep the weeds under control. But the idea of giving over my baby to a stranger is too difficult to accept at this time (though I might change my mind come November when the twins arrive!).

Ah well, I guess there’s nothing to do for it but enjoy the garden as it is.

To see garden pictures from this and past seasons, please visit my photo gallery, From the Garden.