Pure Shite Got home at around 10:00 p.m. after going to an opening after work. A habit I've gotten into once I arrive home is to immediately open up the patio door to check out my garden. Usually a cat or two rushes in to get to the food bowl or the prime spot on the sofa. The garden is doing exceptionally well this year, particularly in contrast with the last two summers, which were somewhat mediocre. The Summer of 2000 was when I split with my partner, and the garden just got neglected. I don't think I actually did any work in it until well into that Fall, when I half-heartedly repotted some geraniums to bring indoors. Last summer, the garden did a little better, and I added a pond, which is proving to be really successful. But the previous year's neglect (no additional compost, no fertilizer, no deadheading or trimming) produced some rather unspectacular perennials. As I walked out tonight, I noticed many things in flower or about to flower. The irises, which actually never bloomed before, have several incredible flower buds on them, as do the centaura, the dianthus, the yarrow, the columbine, and the mallow. The peonies are going to put on an a beautiful fragrant show it seems, judging from the number of buds. For the first time, my lavender has come back and the bushes are really lush. In fact, everything is big and mature and lush. All the perennials this year got treated to a top dressing of real cow and sheep manure, direct from a friend's farm. He purchased what was a dairy and sheep farm. The manure mucked out from the barn has been composting for four or five years, so the smell has dissipated for the most part. The pile itself is a good two stories high, and it's hard to imagine using it all up in my lifetime. This is good shit. I can't help but think that the garden's current lushness is the result of the incredible nutrients in this marvelous manure. There's something moving about holding a newly bloomed flower carefully between your fingers. Combine that with the sweet scent of the neighbour's lilac trees, and you have a moment of sheer delight.