I’m never quite sure what causes the gardening bug to take hold of me at certain times. I can go along without giving the garden a thought and then all of a sudden I get the urge and find myself in the midst of a growing list of garden projects. The funny thing is that while I’m sure that in other parts of the world, it’s the advent of spring or the coming of winter in the late fall that spurs garden projects, out here on this San Diego hilltop, I have yet to completely figure out the seasonal imperatives. There are flowers blooming and new growth starting now in mid-February. My most important specimen planting, my record-setting Queensland Bottle Tree, which is in its mid-summer leafed glory, will drop all its leaves in early June, acting like it’s going into the dormancy of a long winter…only to regrow those leaves again as soon as they stop falling off. None of that makes for strong gardening biorhythms to signal when I should do this or that.
Not so long ago, I went down into the back hillside and sat on top of my bison sculpture as I looked around. It had been a while since I’d done a back side inspection so I found myself starting a to-do list on my phone titled “Joventino”. I had no trouble coming up with twelve things that I could see needed doing. From there I started adding to that list for the always higher priority front gardens. I had already done some optional upgrades (the patio zen garden surrounding the Japanese lantern), but what I was avoiding was dealing with an array of Hen & Chicks plants (Crassulaceae) that have been showing signs of distress. At first I thought it was the result of last year’s draught conditions, but water wasn’t fixing the problem. With succulents, if it’s not too little water, it’s sometimes too much water. Very confusing.
I finally researched the lifecycle for Crassulaceae and discovered that they have a finite life of 20 years. I’ve lived here 13 years and I figure they were probably there for most of 20 years. So I decided to yank all the faltering ones out. They were in six different spots and I had Joventino pull them all out two weeks ago. I spent the last two weeks buying and hauling rock for ground cover, finding and planting interesting succulents and cacti bought at four different nurseries. I’ve been chipping away at it every day and once I had finished, rather than standing back to admire my handiwork, I immediately started thinking about the next project, which was to pull all the lantana from around the Bottle Tree and replace it with an extension of the zen garden look. No sooner was I ticking off to-dos on my list than I was adding new ones to the list. I just counted and see that I’ve ticked off 41 to-dos over the last two weeks. I should note that I still have 17 yet to do, so I’m not yet done. In fact, I was just finishing that zen garden extension when my friend Mike piped up.
Mike is a pro at trees. He knows how to prune them and he knows how to fertilize them. Where he goes light on water, I go heavy. But where he goes heavy on fertilizer, I go light to non-existent. His trees always look hood, so I’m inclined to listen to his advice and his advice this week is to lay down 15-15-15 fertilizer ahead of the big rain we are expecting so the fertilizer can sink in and do its job optimally. I took a picture of his recommended brand and went to Grangetto’s for a bag. On the way home I called him and asked how best to apply it and whether I needed to be cautious in handling the stuff. The answer was, just throw 5 handfuls on each tree, so that covered both questions. My inclination was just to fertilize the planted trees, but Mike felt it was best to do them all.
It was while climbing through the front garden by the road that I managed to misplace my foot on a river rock stone I had laid down as an edging. It only took a moment, and while I am usually so careful when stomping around the garden, this time I was trying to get the new fertilization project finished so I could go back to the patio and finish up that project, which was 85% done. I stumbled and fell forward, as simple as that. Due to my size, I really hate it when that happens. I take pride in having bones and joints that are made to bear up under my size, But if I fall, that all goes out the window and basic physics takes over and the impact from a fall is always problematic. This time I was right next to my truck when I fell and I went down hard with my right knee landing squarely on one of those river rocks. The good news was that there were no jagged edges. The bad news was that I saw stars when I hit the hard rounded surface. With this kind of fall where the damage is more a contusion than a wound per se, one is never quite sure the extent of any damage.
I got up right away, looked to make sure I wasn’t bleeding and went about finishing my fertilizing chore as I drove up the driveway. I knew I needed to go in to ice the knee, but I felt I could put away what I was using for the project before doing so. Don’t ask me why that made sense to me, because it didn’t. It so happened that Kim came home just then, so she set me up with ice packs and pillows. .With a contusion (bruise), you treat one with a RICE protocol (for contusions and soft tissue injuries): That would be Rest – avoid using the injured area to prevent further damage, Ice – apply cold packs for 15-20 minutes at a time to reduce swelling, Compression – using an elastic bandage to minimize swelling (not too tight), and Elevation – keep the injured area above heart level when possible. The ice should last 48 hours, after which you need to switch to warm compresses to help with healing. Over-the-counter pain relievers like ibuprofen can help with pain and swelling. Most contusions heal on their own within 2-4 weeksa d it just so happens we leave for our trip in three weeks.
By the afternoon yesterday, after 2 ice pack applications, I tried to walk and my worst fears were realized. I took some ibuprofen. The swelling and stiffness rendered me almost immobile. After another icing and later in the evening, I got up and realized it was feeling better and the swelling was down. By morning today, I realized it was not my imagination, the damage and pain was, indeed, limited (though still present). I also realized that a modicum of movement was like a lubricant and helped it feel better. Today I took a balanced approach. I did go out with a knee brace and did some meaningful gardening work, finishing the patio work I had started.
Luckily, the rain will force me to curtail my gardening gymnastics for a few days. I certainly have no interest in testing my garden tumbling any further.