One thing led to another in the yarden! 4-27-25

Today was a day that started out one way and ended a completely different way.

I was just going to pot up my recently purchased tomato plants in five gallon buckets. Yes, I started seeds, but I just HAD to stop into Schuring Greenhouses and well, you know, one thing led to another, and I bought five tomato plants – Amish Paste, Mortgage Lifter, and Brandywine. I was going to put them in containers, honest! Instead, I dug Espoma Tomato-Tone and compost into a raised bed and planted them, and made sure to get the cages on them while they’re small. Bc I have jerk deer, behold my barrier system.

I was just going to carry my seedstarting trays to the cold frame and drop them in. Instead I pulled all the weeds out of the frame, topped up the pea gravel, got the hose out of the garage, turned on the outside faucet water, and cleaned the glass and liberally soaked my seedlings. That said, I didn’t reglaze the frame where the glass is loose, and that is on my list now.

I was just going to weed the one combined 4×8 foot strawberry/asparagus raised bed, since both of those are coming on and I wanted to be sure they didn’t have too much competition from the weeds. Instead I weeded three of my four raised beds, because hey, I was already dirty and why not just knock these out real quick-like? Now I wish I’d done the fourth one, but that one is going to require a scuffle-hoe and a shovel due to some benign neglect on my part.

I was just going to mow my small backyard, as a matter of aesthetics. Instead, I mowed the entire yard, leaving stands of red clover, muscari, and dandelions alone. My yard is always a friendly place for any pollinators, birds, or other animals. That said, I’m about to start a new job, after 8 months of being unemployed and having all the time in the world to cut the grass when I got around to it. I’m preparing for the time of Responsible Adulting by getting these things buttoned up now!

Now, I do realize that No Mow May is coming up right around the corner. The premise of this yearly event is that folks don’t cut their grass in May to help out the pollinators, etc. I see signs for this most often in monoculture lawns saturated with Tru-Green or some other such “maintenance” concoction that comes in a tank on the back of a truck. I’m fairly certain that not mowing that yard is not going to bring birds, pollinators, etc. because there’s nothing in that yard for them to subsist upon that isn’t swimming in chemicals. I appreciate their good intentions, truly, becuase they’re thinking about making things better for springtime creatures! I surely do wish, though, that they would join me in making a more nature-friendly yard. There, stepping down off my soapbox.

I am filthy, sweaty, and happy to have spent a day in the dirt. It’s beyond therapeutic to get outside on a sunny day, isn’t it?