How on earth did we get this far through the year already? I have been waking up, working hard, and going back to bed again and each day drags us along in time… I can barely keep up. If the year would go at my pace we would still be somewhere around June. I would be leisurely keeping up with everything that needs to be done in a way that a lot the perception on the internet looks like. My reality is a little different in that I work really hard to do what needs to be done and run out of day before collapsing in an exhausted little heap on the sofa.
But here we are in birthday Month. The big O month with a big birthday in it with a big ‘0’ in it and I shall take every opportunity to celebrate. Although my turn is later in the month – first we have to celebrate with fabulous Brother the Chef and Joey the Teen Lad. Bearing in mind the first celebrations are imminent and require a trip away, the most important thing to get done is transplanting every seedling that remotely shows signs of needing it. Having them all in bigger pots than the ones they are in now will mean there is more room to hold moisture so they can go a little longer. This will take the pressure off a wee bit and our builder can focus on finishing the bathroom reno and only occasionally watering the seedlings! It took two days so transplant them all and I am so pleased I did it. Although I suspect many of them will need transplanting once more before heading out into the garden.
In the garden itself, Hubby the Un-Gardener has made short work of adding the compost to the beds. It barely takes him any time at all, and I am grateful for his strength. There are still 5 beds left to do but three of them still have plants in them that we need to eat and eat them fast… the last frost date is approaching fast.
Not that we get frosts, but normally along with the cessation of frosts comes a calmer more settled phase of spring and I have learnt to wait until the safe planting out date so my tender wee seedlings don’t get tormented by storms. Last season I lost so many seedlings there were no spares or backups left to give away. I won’t be making that mistake again. Besides a growing season that starts on the last frost weekend is plenty long enough for all the plants to do what they need to do!
This is a busy time of year and I will need to make time for some things, some things automatically get priority and others just barge their way to the top of the list, forcing others to retreat. Don’t get me wrong, I love everything about the garden at this time of year, but at this midway point of spring prep I do have moments when I long for that sweet spot in November when the garden is planted out and the harvest hasn’t started yet and I can sit back and do very little for the briefest window of time.
Come again soon – while I’m behind the scenes slaving away I’ll show you all the pretty things in the garden.
Sarah the Gardener : o)
If it’s any comfort, I still haven’t finished clearing my intended veggie patch of perennial weeds, and the only thing that’s been planted in the cleared end of it is a row of Welsh onions (which will hopefully hold the neighbouring weeds at bay).
I do have some seedlings looking a bit leggy, though, so I guess I need to decide whether to repot them into a pot, or plant them out in the garden and let them take their chances with the howling winds…
Everything’s a couple or four months behind, but I try to remind myself that great change comes through incremental improvements, and I don’t need to get everything right the first time around.
Sometimes the only way to make progress is a slow and steady one foot in front of the other. There is so much to do at this time of year. Fortunately the spring activity window is rather large so there is plenty of time to sort things out. I’m sure you will get there in the end. : o)