The Good Thing – About Gardening

Grape Tomatoes are Abundant and Delicious

The coolness of the mornings and the angle of the sun on my drive into work are both undeniable indicators that the long, hot days of summer are slowly moving on, making way for my favorite season – fall!

While I love the beauty and bounty from the gardens – and the harvest of tomatoes, cabbage, and potatoes are more than abundant this year – fall is still my favorite time of the year.  I love the cool, crisp air, the vivid colors as the leaves change and fall to the ground, and visiting local apple orchards to enjoy the wide variety of apples and treats from the harvest.

Since most of the garden chores are either finished or can’t yet be done, I’ve been spending a great deal of my free time creating floral arrangements and bouquets with a paint brush.  I’ve been having a great time finding unique items at garage sales or second hand shops and redecorating them to give them a new life.

This table was painted white, but a fresh coat of vintage green paint gives it a new look.  Adding some flowers was fun and brings the garden indoors.

This little table got a fresh coat of vintage green paint and some flowers to brighten it up.

Recently I found a vintage child’s rocking chair and a doll-size rocking chair.  I spent the afternoon painting them both to match.  Sitting on the back patio with the summer breeze blowing the paint dry (sometimes a little too quickly) was very relaxing.  Letting my imagination run wild, I imagined the little girl that might enjoy these matching chairs.

A fresh coat of paint for each of these rockers gives them a new life.

Our summer in Minnesota has been especially warm this year, and it is the first time in many years that I didn’t get a break from mowing the lawn at all.  There’s been enough rain throughout the entire summer, that the grass has required a weekly mowing all season.  The crop of water lettuce and water hyacinth in the pond is also very abundant.

Almost 90% of the surface of the pond is covered with water hyacinth and water lettuce.

Whether mowing the lawn, harvesting vegetables from the garden, or recreating the flower gardens with a paint brush, I’m spending as much of my free time outdoors as possible, before the cold days of winter blow in.

Painted Rose Box

Gardening has been a hobby, a passion, and an outlet for stress in my life for many years.  The intense labor of digging, weeding, moving dirt and rocks, as well as harvesting the bounty and preserving it for later use leaves the body and soul feeling very satisfied.  It clears the head and tires the limbs.

I also enjoy capturing the natural beauty of a blooming rose at it’s peak of beauty.  When the gardens are growing and the weeds are (temporarily) defeated, passing the time with a paint brush and palette of colors, attempting to capture some of the wonder of nature also satisfies the soul.

It’s been too many years since I’ve sat down with a paint brush and canvas.  The activities of raising three teenagers single-handedly, while keeping up with the demands of a busy career left little time for personal enjoyment or hobbies.  But before I started dating my fiancé, the few moments I had to myself were sometimes spent with brush in hand, attempting to transfer some of scenic pictures imprinted in my mind to canvas.

This week, with brush in hand, I decided to attempt painting again.  As you can see, my skills are a little rusty, but I’ve enjoyed practicing various brush strokes and with a little practice, hope to be able to produce a respectable likeness of some of the beautiful gardens that I’ve enjoyed this summer.

For now, I’m sticking with Donna Dewberry’s One Stroke painting method, because it’s easy to learn and doesn’t require a lot of time or equipment to create a finished piece of artwork.  And if nothing else, the final products serve a practical purpose as they can still hold trinkets, or soil and water to nourish a plant or two.

Painted Flower Pot

Eleanor applies the base coat of paint to the pot so the pots all ready for painted designs.  This pot will be planted with summer flowering bulbs and be given to a friend of Eleanor’s.