By Diane Lockspeiser

In early March we had about a week of gloriously warmer temperatures, two of the days even went up into the seventies. It quickly melted most of the ice and snow. I jumped at the chance to trim my monster grapevine, generously helped by two wonderful members of the Andes Garden Club, Wil Petre and Jackie Evans. Others had wanted to help but couldn’t attend that day. I am grateful to all. Thank you!

Wil took some cuttings home with him, hoping to grow them into new grapevines. I will be extremely interested to see if that works.

Now I am slowly working my way through what was cut off of the vine. See that pile in the picture? That’s not even all of it! I’ve decided that a section of the nearby garden could use a small fenced edging. I will definitely NOT use grapevine cuttings to pound into the ground, for fear that they might grow! There is plenty of other wood around here to use for the vertical posts. I will then use the flexible grapevine cuttings to basket-weave horizontally between the posts.

During that warm spell I also finally got the chance to straighten out the stones on those shallow stone steps I showed you a couple of months ago.

Once things get muddy again, I’ll get back to work on my “Slate Art Installation” underneath the grapevine. Most people would just call it a stone patio, but I saw the more pretentious title in an old issue of Architectural Digest and it amuses me. I’m not cutting the stones to fit like most professionals do. Fitting together the natural shapes is a bit more challenging, like a giant jigsaw puzzle, but I prefer the way it looks.

If you think I come up with an endless supply of projects to keep myself busy, you would be right. I believe that keeping busy and active is healthy, as long as one remembers to stop and rest or ask for help when needed.

Make sure to take the time to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Stop to smell the Narcissus. Then the Lilacs. Listen to the birdsong and the Spring Peepers. Enjoy Real Spring!~