This year, I’ve been hemming and hawing about my spring garden, mostly lamenting that I didn’t start seeds weeks and weeks ago. “Is it worth starting now?,” I’ve been asking myself. “Maybe I’ll just give spring gardening a miss this year.”
My cousin messaged me on Facebook on the 16th, saying he’d put out tomato plants that day — putting my lack of any progress in very stark terms. It’s been a depressing topic, generally, which has dampened my enthusiasm and encouraged procrastination — and the more I procrastinate, the further behind I get.
But then I thought about the joys of harvesting basil, lettuce, tomatoes and especially sweet potato greens — which I didn’t even plant last year.
So this gorgeous weekend (it got up to 80 yesterday and is forecast to get up to 82 today), I set to work getting a bit more prepared, at least. Our plan this year was to expand from 1.25 raised beds to a full 4 — some of which will be shallower than others. But the first job was to get bed #1 into shape — even though I can’t plant tomatoes there because of crop-rotation issues.
When I uncovered the bed and started yanking out dead tomato plants from last year, I found some interesting developments…
Some lovely green lettuce
Baby tomato plants
Potato plant
Yes, these are all what you’d call “volunteers” — things that re-seeded themselves from last year’s crop and have begun to grow. So maybe I’m not as far behind in the garden as I thought I was…
Meanwhile, we have a new “helper” in the garden (and elsewhere) who has no idea how small he is — especially compared to the bone he likes gnawing on.
His name is Shorty, and he’s filled the hole in our hearts left by little Cookie. He’s been a great addition to the family — who knew we would like small dogs? He’s not at all yappy, thankfully, but, when he does bark, he sounds a little like a duck quacking. We got him from the same animal sanctuary — Stray Acres — where we found Cocoa.
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