A Heathen Blessing for Planting
I finished my planting today, putting in my precious and very hard to find festuca. I ended up with four very small and fragile plants from the original 12 I ordered, and eight more from the local Lowe’s which are both bigger and hardier. I offered this blessing as I did my planting. I will post pictures tomorrow, when the light is (hopefully) better.
(Lifting the plant to be put into the soil before you)
May the Lord and the Lady (i.e. Freyr and Freyja)
Bless you
And Grant you long life
and good health
For you are as much a part of this world as I am
(as you place the plant in the ground)
What I take away from Midgard (i.e. the earth) [I cut down plants/trees, pull weeds, etc]
I return to it. [by planting new things - restoring balance]
(as you fill in the soil around the plant)
Grow well little children of the soil
under sun and moon and stars
This blessing I offer
Hrafnkell Haraldsson is the author of A Heathen’s Day, which since 2005 has addressed the life and thoughts of a modern day Heathen. He is also the founder of the Mos Maiorum Foundation (www.mosmaiorum.org) which is dedicated to the study and support of Paganism as ethnic religion and writes for PoliticusUSA (www.politicususa.com) 
That is really beautiful, H. I totally wish I could plant things but…sigh, apartment living.
Very nice, makes me want to do some planting of my own.
Hrafnkell, like Granamyr said, beautiful. And timely. I look forward to seeing those pictures. And then more pictures when the plants have grown full and healthy. The Lowe's here has a huge garden section, and even sells pond plants. It allows me to avoid the Blob (Wal-Mart).
Thanks, all of you. I feel for you, Gran. I was in apartments for years. I always hated that as well (though I didn't miss the mowing much I missed having a yard of my own!).
It's raining today in Fort Wayne so no pics yet. I went out and weeded a bit in the rain, which was nice. The little plants look greener (I replanted them in bigger holes last week).
The problem is, the soil here is clay. Even after tilling the patch this spring and adding some good black garden soil to it, it's still all clay a couple of inches down. So I made extra bit holes and filled them with all sorts of good stuff that I mixed together by hand in my wheelbarrow. Got some peat moss, some nitrogen-enriched soil and something else I forget the name of now. Mixed it altogether and filled the holes with that.
Given the circumstances, I think the blessing was doubly needed!
I'll share the pics as soon as I can. All that's left is the weed guard and then the recycled rubber mulch (made from old tires).
We have clay here too, Hrafnkell, and it's been a real struggle to work with. Compost from the pile in our backyard seems to help the most, when that's worked in. Sounds from all the steps you took like those plants won't have a choice but to grow.
I really hate all that clay. I should make pottery. I literally had to dig chunks of it out of the ground to make the holes. Very thick and hard. I hardly need to do anything but shape it with my fingers and fire it, I think!