Trapped in the Garden: Adventures in Spring Pruning


dead tops of last year's perennials. Some of the refuse was scattered at the perimeter of the raised beds, which vastly narrowed the available space for walking. But the major heaps of trimmings surrounded - and completely blocked - the narrow entrance and exit arbors.

Don't ask me why neither of us had gardening gloves on. We both developed a technique of removing and discarding the thorny rose canes by holding them with the tips of our pruning shears and then tossing them aside. One has very little control of the eventual size and shape of the refuse pile when using this method. So basically, we were facing two impenetrable and thorny barriers that defied us to try to pass by, without the equipment that would allow us to rearrange them.

We were, in fact, trapped in the garden.

I think both of us got caught up in the "artistic" feeling of shaping these shrubs and guiding their destiny. We were so pleased with the order we had created with our growing things that we were equally oblivious to the chaos we had created in doing so.

I would like to tell you that I am still trapped in the garden, writing this from my laptop which is plugged into my cell phone so that I can upload the article. But I hadn't the foresight to bring either laptop of cell phone along. Instead, my husband and I spent some time wriggling ignominiously through the hemlock hedge at the back of the raised bed. We emerged scratched and sticky with sap - but we did escape.

I guess the moral of the story is to wear, or at least bring along a pair of good gardening gloves when you are pruning thorny stuff. I would certainly never suggest that you pay attention to the inconsequential stuff - the material you are pruning away - at the expense of the artistic creations that you have so thoughtfully worked on. Why ruin the joy of gardening with practicalities like that?

But maybe it would be wise to anticipate any possible bottlenecks in your garden before you begin.

The copyright of the article Trapped in the Garden: Adventures in Spring Pruning in Virtual Gardening is owned by Carol Wallace. Permission to republish Trapped in the Garden: Adventures in Spring Pruning in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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