Yesterday I finished cleaning out all of the raised beds.  The potatoes are planted in bags again this year.  It's an odd idea that I saw on the BBC Scotland Television programme @beechgrove_garden  It is available on BritBox.  I highly recommend watching.  Fun and informative.  By the way, I grew potatoes in "tatty bags" last year and it was amazing!  Great harvest of Yukon Golds.

It's the last day of March.  Next week is Holy Week and the lead-in to Easter.  As I have been meditating and reading these past few days I've been struck by one constant.  If I were around during Jesus' time, I would have been a Pharisee.  I would be the unbeliever.  The law-following hater of the one breaking up the status quo.  I'm not proud of this by any means.  I've been a bit of a black and white person most of my life.  Raised in a very conservative Baptist tradition it was all that I knew.  As I've aged, I've realized that we were all like the Pharisees.  Very literal and very stuck in the belief that we were right.  Right-thinking literalists who believed what we were "told" more than what we reasoned and discerned on our own.  At least that was my experience.

I'm much, much older and I've (hopefully) learned and changed through the years.  I still have a bit of that Pharisee in me.  Yet, I've also learned to be much more open and accepting.  I'm much more available to wonder and astonishment as I've become an old man.  The world is an amazing place filled with such a variety of wonderful people.  It can also be a hard, harsh world when the worst of humanity comes out.  We've witnessed so much of that, too!  

Today I am trying to focus on hope.  Hope for our future.  Hope for our country. Hope for our City.  Hope for the world. Whenever I'm around the little ones (who are not so little anymore) my hope is renewed.  I've watched a young one in the neighborhood grow up these past few years as he and his momma walk around.  Listening to his giggles and his constant questions, I have hope.  I see the wonder and astonishment is his eyes.  I hear the love in his questions and the sheer joy in existence.  I have hope.  I cling to hope.  I pray that my faith will not die, that hope will continue to grow and that I will love my neighbor as myself.  I hope. Hope.  Hope!  Amen!

The skies are beautiful over the Carondelet Garden on this last Thursday of the month of March.  April is just around the corner and today's spring-like temperatures are surely welcome.

It's gardening day here in South Saint Louis.  I'm heading out to the garden center for a few supplies and hitting it again today.  I just mowed the lawn on Sunday, but it needs it again.  I'm cleaning out the bed of garlic that did not make it through the winter and getting it ready for my Candy Sweet Onions.  It's an exciting day for this old gardener.  

Have a great Thursday.  Enjoy the sunshine and the blue skies.  Smell the air of Spring.  Be good and be kind to yourself this last Thursday of March.  That's all the news from here in the Carondelet Garden.

It seems we have a new neighbor here in the Carondelet Garden.  A lovely new home built in the Red Maple.  Welcome to the neighborhood!

It appears that we will be getting a bit more rain later this morning then some clearing this afternoon.  We will be getting a warmup as the week progresses.  Spring is definitely here.  

How are your garden plans progressing?  Potatoes and Onions this week.  Doing some more bed cleanup.  I lost one entire bed of garlic over the winter but the other one looks great.  It's amazing what eight feet can do!  They were that close together.  One survived.  One did not.  The life of an urban gardener.  

I hope you stay safe and dry on this wet Tuesday in late March.  Take care of yourselves.  Take your time.  Be good to yourself and others as you travel about today.  That's all the news from the Carondelet Garden.

I let the grass in the backyard get a little too long before mowing yesterday.  I kept waiting for the rains to stop so things could dry out a bit.  It was really long.  My poor electric lawn mower took a bit of a beating.  I'll be out again this week to do it again.  I do not remember ever mowing in March before.  

A new week is beginning.  It's Monday and time to run a few errands and get a few things ready.  My potato seeds are ready for planting.  My onion sets are arriving this week.  It's an exciting time here in the Carondelet Garden.

Have a wonderful week Gardening friends.  Be good to yourself this week.  Be good and kind to those you may meet along the way.  That's all the news from the Carondelet Garden.

Relax.  Refresh.  Renew.  Enjoy a simple, ordinary Sunday.  Amen!

We woke up to bright sunshine and now the clouds have moved back in, but the weather prognosticators tell me that sunshine will return this afternoon.  We might even see a slight warmup.  Spring storms definitely brought the rain these past few days.  Tomorrow looks like it will be amazing!

It's a bit of lazy day here in the Carondelet Garden.  It's March Madness so basketball is the word of the day.  Chili is in the crockpot.  Life is good!

Here's to a simple, ordinary weekend filled with good basketball, good sportsmanship, and good living.  Be good and be kind to yourself and those around you.  That's all the news from here in the Carondelet Garden.

It's a chilly, cloudy, rainy start to the day here in the Carondelet Garden.  The Red Maple is showing her beautiful blooms on this Fish Fry Friday in Lent.  Rain will continue through today but the weekend is coming.

March Madness is upon us and we are caught up in the magic as much as the rest of the world.  We love our College Basketball here in the Carondelet Cottage.  Our beloved Billikens women's basketball team didn't make it out of the first round but, hey, they made it to the dance!  We are now rooting for South Carolina.  We love watching them play and their coach is so animated!  

I hope you get a chance to do something you love this weekend.  Maybe a Fish Fry tonight?  That's where we will be later this afternoon.  It's a good day to be kinder and gentler with yourself.  You deserve a little grace on the chilly, cloudy, rainy Friday.  Blessings upon blessings on this Fish Fry Friday in Lent.  That's all the news from here in the Carondelet Garden.

The Alliums are back and filling in quite nicely in the front Garden.  The usually don't bloom until late June or early July but they last for months and look amazing throughout the hot summer months here in the Carondelet Garden.  I love their simple beauty.  I also love the perennial nature as I don't have to replace them every year.

I love a good perennial.  Something that happens year after year.  You can count on it being there and doing its thing.  A bit of pruning or thinning.  A little fertilizer and water and there you are.  Yesterday was one of those days that should have been simple and ordinary.  You know the kind of day.  You are doing a relatively routine task.  It's a task that only comes once a year and you've used the same software to do that task for what feels like forever.  Yet this year it is not working the way it should.  You spend hours on customer support.  I do feel sorry for the customer support folks.  They are doing their best to help.  I think my support person was more frustrated than I was as every suggestion just hit another wall of "nope, that didn't work."  But today is a new day.  We will, hopefully, try again.  

That's what we do.  We try again.  We keep trying and hopefully success will prevail.  We simply keep trying.  Persevere and be patient.  We keep going.  I hope you have a simple, ordinary day today.  One with few frustrations and a bit of joy.  The rains are moving in and that my slow things a bit.  Patience and perseverance are the words of the day.  God, grant me the serenity.  Patience.  Perseverance.  Wisdom. Amen.

The Hyacinths are lovely even on a wet Spring morning in March. What a beautiful sight to cheer the heart and please the eyes.  Nature never fails to impress!

I have so much to learn about gardening.  Honestly, I still have so much to learn... period!  I was the first person in my family to graduate from High School.  Then college and grad school and I thought I was a learned person.  Yet, the smartest people I've ever met were not necessarily the most educated.  They are the ones who kept their eyes and ears open and were aware.  The watched and listened more.  When they did speak, you needed to listen!  They had something profound to say.  I remember asking my dad for advice one time.  He stopped and looked at me.  "I'll give it to you if you want me to.  You may not like what I have to say." I didn't like what he had to say.  But it was always something I needed to hear.  

I am an old man who is trying not to be so set in his ways.  I'm still struggling to be aware and be reflective of the world around me.   I've learned so much from so many of my fellow gardeners who are willing to share their knowledge and experiences with an old man in Carondelet.  What a grace-filled world of gardeners.  

I am grateful to so many folks who have helped me along the way.  Those in the past and those in the present and future.  Thank you!  The words of the day for this Wednesday in Lent:  Thank you!  The write Anne Lamott once said her favorite prayers are:  Thanks!  Wow!  Help!  Thanks!  Wow!  Help!  Amen!