Spring has sprung

Gardening is not an easy hobby to get into for me. I like to see instant results for my effort and with gardening, it may take months for there to be any outcome to my hard work. (In some ways, it’s rather like writing a novel!).

Over the autumn, we spent several afternoons in the front garden, clearing away weeds and faded flowers from the summer in order to plant some bulbs. Nothing happened for months over the winter and we were convinced they’d all died from the ice and snow.

But now that spring has come, we have a skip in our step as we walk down the garden path and see all our hard work manifest itself in bright splashes of colour - our tulips have sprung up at last!

However, it’s not all gladness and joy. We also planted loads of allium bulbs but there’ve been no sign of them. Perhaps we didn’t clear the weeds enough around them. Or perhaps the snow and frost got to them even as it spared the tulips. So we’re feeling a little frustrated and fed up on that front even while we’re enjoying our lovely, bright tulips.

I suppose that’s like anything that any of us put our efforts into. We can have the perfect plan and execute it the best way we know how. In the most part, things turn out according to plan but there’s always a margin for imperfection or error. It’s about celebrating the successes and taking the imperfections in our stride.