Category: Gardening

We cannot say to those who pass,
“Please Do Not Walk Upon The Grass”,
Which has retreated, if you’ll pardon
Our mentioning it, to the garden.

by Ray Romine Wednesday, June 6, 1951

Our pumpkins grew to giant size;
They are a sight to see;
But they’re as near to PUMPKIN PIE
As they will ever be.

For Florence simply will not touch
(Nor Sandy either, durn it)
A piece of pumpkin pie without
WHIPPED CREAM piled high upern it.

Now things have reached a pretty pass:
I have to rear a COW
To make my Victory Garden pay–
WHO WANTS TO BUY A PLOW?

by Ray Romine Tuesday, November 2, 1943

There is spading and hoeing and weeding;
There is bending and swearing and sweat;
The short cuts about which you’ve been reading
Just haven’t materialized yet.

If it’s arteries you want to harden–
It is said here with no thought of mirth-
You are nearer hard work in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.

by Ray Romine Monday, June 26, 1950

To plant and hoe should be enough:
But now we gotta CAN the stuff–
If it’s OK with you, my dear,
We’ll CAN the whole idea next year!

by Ray Romine Wednesday, August 18, 1943

Was it a success? I can say it was, yes,
But next year I shall not repeat it.
For I know now as fall casts its spell over all
It kept me too busy to eat it.

by Ray Romine Thursday, October 11, 1951

Most of the tasks that our homes have us do
Seem to me fairly consistent;
Cutting the grass, though, is one that, I vow
Could be, for me, non-existent.

Mowing the lawn in itself’s none so bad
(Can’t say I really ENJOY it)
But, feed we the grass so the darn stuff’ll GROW:
Then, on the morrow, DESTROY IT!

Plant it, and feed it, and then whack it off:
Trouble that really is sowin’–
Give me a lawn paved with ROCKS, so I can
Love it and leave it ALOWAN!

by Ray Romine Sunday, May 30, 1943

The things they don’t show in their seed catalogs
Will grow better and faster than seeds;
I refer, don’t you know, to the chickens and dogs,
To the insects, diseases, and weeds!

Now, gardening’s something I’d go for–yes ma’m.
It’s a hobby I ‘d cherish and love,
Were it not for the self-same unspeakably dam ‘ —
*

*(Please refer to the verse just above)

by Ray Romine Sunday, July 8, 1945

I soak it good each night or so
With quantities of H2o;
I aereate, I fertilize;
I mow it when it tries to rise,
And though grass gave up long ago,
It is nice the dandelions should grow.

by Ray Romine Tuesday, April 28, 1953

I bought the very best of seeds;
I sprayed the bugs and pulled the weeds;
When it was dry I irrigated,
And mulched, and swore, and cultivated,
No single round I ever lost,
And yet, I’m glad to see the frost.

by Ray Romine Wednesday, August 9, 1950

She holds her atately head erect
And lets attendant bees
Carry off her dust of gold
To other families.

Her pride flares fiercely, None must know
Of her unmoneyed plight:
Of how those dew-rinsed velvet robes
Were borrowed from the night.

by Ray Romine Sunday, November 12, 1950