Spring Gardening is in My Heart but Not In The Air

I got a new container gardening book this week and I am dying to buy plants and pots and ......

I used to garden in my yard all the time.  Working for lawyers (read mental fatigue), I would come home every day, and immediately put on my old, "it is already ruined" gardening clothes.  I had all kinds of shovels and spades, wheelbarrows, gardening gloves, and kneeling pads.  I  played out there until I was worn out.  A hot relaxing shower or soak, pjs, and a good book or tv show.  It kept my body parts moving and my head sane for a long time. 

I had a chain-link fence around my yard.  My behind-me neighbor had two hunting-trained labs.  Those dogs never barked and were kept in large, very nice fenced areas.  The dogs seemed to be well fed and cared for but I hated they weren't free to roam. 

It was my understanding that the behind-me neighbor ran a duck hunting business so I guess they were trained to work and not play.  He did let them out fairly regularly and when he did my dogs would run up and down the fence line with them.  My dogs made enough noise to raise the dead but his stayed quiet. 

I planted a row of red-tip photinias that grow very tall and broad down here.  I soon had a very nice shrub-fence blocking the view of my neighbor's yard, yet letting the natural airflow on days with wind.  I loved to see my dogs dart under the branches and glimpses of them as they ran back and forth.  They came in happy and worn-out too.

Every time I see red-tips I think of my little house.  It was the house I lived in when I first came down with diabetes and my life became so complicated.  It was from there I moved to my first apartment since leaving home.  I miss having a yard but intend to make my little balcony the best playground possible. 

I went on the Walmart webpage because I saw some pots on sale.  From there I was like a zillionaire, clicking add to My Cart on everything my little gardening heart desired.  I was over $380 when I shut it down.  It was such fun and I didn't really spend a penny since I exited and did not push Pay. 

Last year I bought half a dozen different types of small plants recommended by my then favorite gardening book.  I have figured out what works and doesn't work of those I bought.  This year I will add a few more different plants that work for small container gardens.  I also want to buy one of those raised flower beds on legs to put on the side of the balcony that looks down on the sidewalk.  Although I would like a tall shelf, it would have to have some kind of lattice-type backing so pots could not fall backward off the shelf and hit a neighbor on the head.  For now, I'll have to limit myself on how many pots I can fit on my balcony. 

As I said, gardening is in my Heart and Head right now but Mother Nature has not caught up with me.  It is cold and rainy and something blew in with the weather than has me sneezing and blowing my nose.  That's ok.  It doesn't cost to dream .... or remember. 

More later ....