I Am Gardening · 20 March 2002
Dethatching the lawn (‘thatch’ is a good word), pulling moss (fluffy and unnaturally green), mowing (mow high and leave the clippings where they fall, they say), trimming hedges, re-mortaring the hinge mount for the shed door (cement is endlessly fascinating to me), putting up shelves in the shed (so are expanding screw mounts), starting a compost (you prime it, then pull the cord), pruning shrubs (you know those cardboard displays you see in bookstores, the ones with pockets in which one title is displayed face out – they’re called ‘dump bins’ in the trade; one time the publisher I was working for carried a book called The Prune Gourmet, and the question was, of course, should we produce dump bins for it), burning twigs and branches (a deeply satisfying pastime), turning soil. I have blisters on my heels, from a new pair of desert boots. This is all new.
* * *