My Monday started early. I hit the
ground running with a fully booked day starting with several meetings in the
city. But on Sunday afternoon, when Thurman called offering to till up and lay
off my garden before launching into his, one learns to re-prioritize.
I awoke to the sound of my dogs
barking their head’s off. A strange contraption on the land making oodles of
noise and they’re thinking they’re helping by telling me we have company.
Shoving every meeting I could till
as late as the day would hold, I cleared my morning, graciously accepting the
help I could not muster on my own.
By 9 am, the land was laid off; my
2014 garden set for planting.
With his own garden to tend to,
time was of the essence for Thurman even more than me. With tractor engine
churning, he granted me 5 extra minutes for a reminder/run-down of how far
apart this must be from that, and a couple of reminders about things to factor
when planting “above ground” plants.
Row 1 for me this year:
watermelons, cantaloupes and pumpkins…(last year these were the furthest from me; this
year they can vine their way toward the goats if they like; it's called "crop rotation"). Next is Pepper Patch Row, with eggplants, squash and okra trailing the 7 varieties of peppers I've decided to try. Rows 3 through 5 start with cucumbers and end in corn, leaving
open spaces for below ground crops still awaiting their proper sign for optimal planting.
What energy I had left from the afternoon
Nashville meetings I had salvaged, I stopped off to buy marigolds on my way
home. (Marigolds, in case you did not know, are a natural insect repellant;
mosquitos, in particular, hate their scent, which this year, you might want to
look into.)
Taking planting signs seriously and
knowing I had at least a week before the next appropriate “transplant” day was
upon me, I got home by sunset and took to the garden, hoe in hand and
wheelbarrow full of the newly purchased plants (looking like they were dressed
for a UT football game).
By the light of the moon (and the
light of some little solar-powered stepping stone lights) I got the last of my
“above ground” babies bedded for the night before calling it a day myself.
The good news? Planting a garden is
God’s own Tylenol PM. I’ve yet to meet a serious farmer who doesn’t sleep well,
and for once, my own 3 AM internal alarm didn’t phase me…I awoke to a new day,
a new year, a new garden. (And all is well.)
Here’s to planting at whatever hour
works for you.
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