Spring Rituals

There is something about dirt that is just so satisfying. I mean digging in it, planting things. It feels good to root around and break up the clumps and see the worms wiggle around. It's satisfying to grub out the roots of the invading grass and the old left-over weeds from last year. Then you dig a nice hole and pull the bedding plant out of its pot, and set it down deep into it new home, pour in some water, fill it in with some sandy loam and pat all around it. Or you poke a little hole and slip a swollen bean seed in there and cover it and go on to the next site. The first night after you've transplanted the seedlings, they often look droopy and sad, but by morning they will perk up and stand up inside the tomato cages looking official. The bean seeds take a little longer to thrust their first leaves up through the soil, and then they seem to leap up the supports of their cage till finally the blossoms pop open and soon you'll be eating green beans alongside the caprese salad every summer evening.

CoolGuy got to feel all those feelings this spring. I watched from a patio chair. He got to plant the marigold border to ward off bugs from the tomatoes. (Superstition or reality---I'm unsure, but it works every year so far.) He grubbed around breaking up the clumps of mostly decayed lawn clippings from the compost bin that we'd dumped onto the raised bed in November. He shoveled it all up, incorporating the sandy soil and the luscious compost. He picked out the tomato plants and basil at the store and put them all lovingly into their new homes in our garden box.

At least I could help by re-potting the geraniums on the patio. I put new succulents into my Mexican pots to replace the ones that were frozen this winter in a sprinkler accident. I still have a little dirt under my nails from that teeny bit of gardening I did about an hour ago. I know the tomatoes will taste as good, and the basil will still send its powerful scent wafting into the atmosphere when I pluck its leaves, but I really love the digging part, too. >

Last spring, our grandson was here and we went together to buy the plants and he helped me dig it all up and plant everything. We had a great time and hopefully I've innoculated another generation with the need to do a little farming because spring is here. Guess who supervised the supervisor? She likes this time of year too because evenings are pleasant out on the grass and patio. Also, nothing happens around here without her careful observation and overview. Hey, she's the Queen, after all.