Category: working in the garden

Happy 4th of July!

Cindy at enclos*ure3 Comments

My husband and I enjoyed the 4th by going out to lunch in Georgetown and then taking a walk through Dumbarton Oaks Park, which will be the subject of my next post.

Then we returned home and tag-teamed cutting our grass.

It’s not that we have very much lawn — quite the contrary as you can see from the photos below.  It’s that we live in an attached rowhouse and the only way to get from the front yard to the back, or vice-versa, is go through the house (or around the block).

It’s also that we cut the grass with an antique reel lawnmower that my father gave me.  I believe it belonged to my grandfather.  It weighs 26 very awkward pounds (feels like 50, as they say about the weather).  But I use it for sentiment, and because I think it’s rather beautiful, and because I can’t resist a free tool.

My reel mower

To cut our grass, my husband first pulls the mower from the covered area outside the back door and rolls it through the basement and out a front door, up the basement steps and out to our tiny strip,

Our front strip of grass — the one with shaggy edges; our neighbor’s beyond is professionally cut.

which he cuts in about three minutes.  Then he carries it back down the steps,

The front steps down to the basement.

through the basement again, and back out the door.  Then he hands it over to me.

Then, I take the mower up the back basement steps to the deck,

Up the back basement steps.

down the deck steps,

Down the back deck steps.

and down the sidewalk to our little round “lawn.”

Cut the back “lawn.”

The cutting takes me about seven minutes only because I have to move a couple of chairs.  Then I have to retrace my steps, maybe take an Advil, and think about how a tiny meadow in that spot would be a good idea.

If you are in the U.S., enjoy the fireworks tonight!

What’s in your garden (dirt)?

Cindy at enclos*ure10 Comments

Since I started digging in my new garden this spring, I have found old tile, broken bricks, a GM key, the on/off knob of some large appliance, and something that looks like a fuse (the dog found that and was quite hurt when I put it out of reach).

I also keep finding small pieces of china, mostly in plain white, but some with patterns in blue, pale green, and orange. I keep a jar under the cherry tree to collect them.
objects in dirt
I always feel sad about these broken dishes and wonder about their history.  Did a child drop a tea cup or run into a cabinet? Did a mother knock a plate off the counter, upset after a fight?  Why toss the pieces in the garden?

In my old yard in Chevy Chase, I seemed to hit copper pipe in the ground almost every place I wanted to put a tree or shrub.  The original owner, who built the house in 1928 and lived there over 50 years, was a plumber and had installed garden faucets in four spots.  Near the big stone grill he also built, I unearthed iron stakes for a horseshoe pit, three duckpin balls, a lot of beer and Orange Crush bottle tops, and a wonderful old concrete flamingo, which still had some pink paint but no legs.

I picture him relaxing among the well-watered flowers in the 1930s, perhaps expecting guests later and perhaps reading Popular Mechanics on how to construct your own round concrete pond, which could be ornamented with regularly spaced, embedded white quartz stones (oh yes).

The round concrete pond.

What bits and pieces from the past have you found while digging in your garden and what story do you tell yourself about them?  Please click on “Leave a Comment” below.