I recently attended my 8 year old daughters' spring pagent and was treated to a beautiful song. I couldn't help but think of Old Git and of of the wonderful advice and information provided to us. Thank you from all of us.

Old Git, this is for you. This IS you. I wish I had written it. I wish I could share the beatiful melody with you, but something tells me you will create your own melody as you work in YOUR garden.

Roland

In My Garden

Inch by inch, row by row, Gonna make this garden grow. All it takes is a rake and a hoe, And a piece of fertile ground.

Inch by inch, row by row, Someone bless these seeds I sow. Someone warm them from below, "Til the rain comes tumblin' down.

Grain for grain, sun and rain, Find my way in nature's chain. Tune my body and my brain To the music of the land.

Plant your rows, straight and long. Temper them with prayer and song. Mother Earth will make you strong, If you give her love and care.

Old crow watching hungrily, From his perch in yonder tree. In my garden I'm as free As that feathered thief up there.

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), May 08, 1999

Answers

Blessings like this are meant to be shared,

Thank you Roland, for sharing it with me, you're a lucky man!

Respectfully-- mikeymac

-- spun@lright (mikeymac@uswest.net), May 08, 1999.

Excellent, Roland. Couldn't have said it better

-- Duffyo (duffyo@mailcity.com), May 08, 1999.

I'm trying to sing it now, but I'll need notes to get it right. (g)

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), May 08, 1999.

Aw, 'tweren't nuthin'. Thanks, Roland! Tell your daughter that's one of the secrets of great wisdom--not just the act of gardening itself and producing healthy food to eat, but what you get from the experience when you're out there with your hands in the dirt. Others get a lot out of it, too, especially my front garden (which has been completely planted with flowering shrubs and many perennials--very little grass, just a thin strip across the front). Just this morning, I was out there admiring an amazing spider--bright sulfur yellow, beautiful--when a complete stranger, jogging by, said. "I want you to know that I didn't used to come this way, but I saw your flowers from the corner a few weeks ago and now I pass here every morning just to see what's out now. The roses. . ." He smiled, shook his head, lost for words, and off he went.

The roses ARE beautiful now. They're David Austins, most of them, shrub types, loaded down with plump buds and old-fashioned cabbage-type blooms--Abraham Darby, Francine Austin, Sweet Juliet, Fair Bianca, and a couple of rugosas, Topaz Jewel and Blanc Double de Coubert. This last one is a great favorite--it has a soft, not sharp, citrus perfume and its petals resemble fine, pure white silk.

My current pet is heliotrope--I recommend this plant to everyone, even though it's an annual and relatively expensive (about $4-5/plant). It's got lots of lovely purple umbels composed of scores of tiny purple blossoms and it smells like--cherry pie, but exotic! It really does! The perfume can be detected quite a few feet away and is always a lovely surprise.

There are no straight rows on my garden! I tend to be haphazard in my planting and lots of stuff is in pots becasue of the terrible soil. And no hungry crows, because I feed them! No problem, this is an urban area so there are no great flocks. I learned gardening by following my Dad around as soon as I could walk. (And I walked at seven months!) Dad's almost 83 now so I've been around gardening fro some time. And had to learn several types of gardening, from England to West Texas, from there to the Deep south, on to the Middle South, Deep South again, Upper South, now Middle South again. And the variations of salt air and piedmont, former swamp and thick clay. And I'm still learning.

Roland, see if you can find some moonflower seeds for your daughter, but quickly, it's almost too late. Soak overnight, then plant. Moonflower is a relative of the morning glory, with 4-6" blooms of white and a fabulous sweet, but not cloying or heavy, perfume. Children love it because they can see the buds opening! Around 4 o'clock every day, the large ice-cream-cone buds slowly swirl open, sometimes trembling on the vine as they do so. Plant one under your duaghter's bedroom window if you can, on a support of some kind--it wraps itself around things. You'll be able to save some seeds from it for next year.

Thanks, Roland.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), May 08, 1999.

Re the song: I heard John Denver sing it on "The Muppet Show" in (about) 1981. Sorry, I can't give you a hotlink for it, but I might have it on an ooolllddd tape.

Got Beta?

(BTW, JD's birthday was on New Year's Eve.)

-- In Colorado (Rocky@Mountain.High), May 09, 1999.

OK, now I CAN give you a (not hot) link for it:

http://www.globalserve.net/~rhonda/garden3.html

(Be sure to read the Arlo Guthrie version of it at the bottom!)

It's called "Garden Song" and was recorded by JD, Pete Seger, the Muppets, and Peter, Paul, and Mary, to name a few. If you search hard enough using that title, you might find it in RealAudio somewhere. It is a cute song.

-- In Colorado (Rocky@Mountain.High), May 09, 1999.

It's a lovely song- with a sweet tune. I know it well....

-- anita (hillsidefarm@drbs.com), May 09, 1999.