I do the same thing every year and every year I say I won’t make the same mistake next year. I get anxious during that oh so small window of fake Spring that always peeks its head out the first of March and then I regret it. I regret the effort, the planning and the work but I shake it off knowing that if I had guessed correctly I would look like a hero rather than the zero I look like today.
I always plant my garden to early but I just can’t help it. Something stirs in me March 1st that makes me want to get dirt under my fingernails. I feel the need to turn the soil in my garden beds and wake the earthworms up, entice them to get busy, get ready for the Lettuce, Peppers, Squash, Cucumbers, Cabbage, Lima Beans, and Tomatoes I am anxious to get in the ground now. To early.
My wife knows it’s to early. Hell the earthworms know it is to early but I don’t listen, I never listen. Why would the Framers Market have plants out if it weren’t time to put them in the ground? Why would they tease me? Why?
My garden beds look good. The dirt is dark, rich and moist. I spent all Winter putting yard clippings on top of each bed providing them with a warm winter blanket to rest and conserve their energy. When I turned the dirt, mixing the clippings into the soil, I saw that my earthworms had been busy over the Winter making babies, gobs of babies. I don’t know much about earthworm sex but apparently mine are very horny.
So despite the protest of my wife and the warnings of the Weather Channel I have planted my garden. If I am right I will be eating fresh salads early and tomato sandwiches in late June. And if I am wrong, well I will spend another $25.00 to buy more plants and start all over again.
If you have a little spot in yard that gets some sunshine plant a few things. Lettuce is easy to grow. About the only thing that will kill it is thirst. Peppers, Cucumbers and Tomatoes will all grow in a medium size pot with a simple wire Tomato cage you can buy at Home Depot for $3.00. You won’t reduce your grocery bill by hundreds of dollars but you will experience the magic of getting your hands dirty and watching something grow.
Ends and Beginnings 
Go for it, earthworms!!
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wish we had earthworms…..sigh. I have been looking at the garden space in the back yard for two weeks now. it is driving me a bit crazy knowing that if I plant anything at all before April 8th it will just die on me,….yet, I keep checking the soil, the weather forecast and my farmer’s almanac hoping against hope that all three will somehow say “go for it! Things will be different this year!”.
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Why don’t you have earthworms?
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First off, earthworms are hermaphroditic; so everyone you meet is a potential partner, no exceptions.
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Personally, I’m not sure I’d like being both-and, but that’s the way God made them.
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Putting out a spring garden is 2nd only to fall butchering among my favorite childhood memories.
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I must say, I feel good knowing it is done. Now I can sit on my bucket in the evening with the hose and a beer and meditate until the 5 year old next door, with his nose pressed against the fence, ask me 100 times “What are doing?”
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Second, I could filibuster at some length about the importance of gardening for urban ministry, which is why I’m so gung-ho on my own church’s gardens. Folk growing up in an urban context often have no natural opportunity to actually taste the fruits of one’s own labors; to have hands-on experience that one’s work can be rewarded; that there is a natural order, fundamental order, God has built into creation, that one can rely on. Urban gardens give folk opportunities to experience these things other folk take for granted, that are so fundamental to success in life.
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Amen William.
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In our new place, we have about 6 planter boxes. All are in the sun. My other half has always said he wanted a place where he could plant and grow his own veggies. So now he has it. And I’m waiting with measured eye to see how ambitious he’ll be over the next few weeks since Spring is now bouncing into view. 🌼.
Me? I’m a techie — I far prefer the keyboard over the dirt.
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One piece of advice, don’t let him try and cram as much as he can into the space. I am guilty of that, planting 6 tomato plants instead of 4 like I should.
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One thing I do know about gardening … tomatoes are prolific!
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And maybe it is just in my head, but I truly believe the vegetables also taste better 🙂
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I agree, taste like the earth!
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