Two hours and four gardens. Unfortunately, that’s all we had time for yesterday due to another engagement in the afternoon. But even our limited tour of “Music in the Gardens” was enough to give me a good dose of garden envy.

First and foremost, I saw ‘nary a weed in any of the lovely gardens we visited. Since I am Chief Weeder in our yard, I am overly sensitive to those intrusive buttercups and bindweed and meadow grasses. And yes, after yesterday I am back to referring to the area between our fence and house as a “yard,” not a “garden.”

Secondly, was the imaginative use of space.  There were ‘water treatments’ and secluded nooks, patios nestled in protective shrubbery, and garden rooms. Yes, rooms! The brochure described one of the gardens as “a series of outdoor rooms… inviting you to sit, relax and enjoy the beauty and peacefulness of the landscape.”

Nyel and I love that idea but can’t seem to envision our yard as anything but a huge expanse of (sometimes) green lawn surrounded by needy-weedy flower beds that urge you to get busy. There is, no doubt, a solution to our yard dilemma. It has to do with numbers and ifs. As in if we were 40 years younger or if we had 3 or 4 full-time gardeners or if we had a bank account with a few more zeroes attached.

Garden envy notwithstanding, however, we thoroughly enjoyed the peek we had and wished we could have seen more. I can’t say that I was super-encouraged to step up my weeding and mulching efforts, but I did conclude that I am on the right path; I’m not throwing in my trowel yet.

And, as a bonus, we saw two lovely chicken coops and their occupants and, I must say, that Farmer Nyel’s flock and their housing facility compared very well. Plus, when they are free-ranging (which is mostly) our girls and Mr. Randy look spectacular against our huge expanse of (sometimes) green lawn. With the chickens as a distraction, our needy-weedy beds are hardly noticeable at all!