4.06.2006

Stubborn

Sure. I admit it. I'm stubborn. Hell, the proverbial mule occasionally looks easy-going next to me when I really dig my heels in. And, truth be told, that's exactly what I did today.

Last week the weather was just perfect. Yesterday it snowed. Nothing stuck, but talk about disheartening. Today, it's neither warm nor cold. It just simply is what you might call "seasonal." You don't pull out the short sleeves, but you can walk out without the jacket and not regret it.

I stared out at my garden - barren and waiting to be used again. I started to think about something my mom had said the other night: I should plant broccoli this year because the boy insists it's his favorite vegetable. (Though truth be told he only likes the stalks, weird child of mine, and he rarely eats more than one.)

"Oh, but that's a cool weather plant, you'd have to be putting that in now if not in already," she lamented.

We dropped Logan off at school and then headed to the shop we buy most of our plants from. Megan was excited. She's on a truck kick lately and this place has oodles of them. What they didn't have was broccoli.

"Too early," the clueless woman at the register said. I was surprised, the folks at this place are normally very well informed. I didn't bother to argue with her. It was pointless, they didn't have it.

Back in the car and off to the place we get the rest of our plants from each year. This is a smaller shop owned by a couple with really thick accents. I parked and before I got Megan out of the car I saw it -- a table with cool weather veggies. Broccoli, cabbage, varieties of lettuce and even peas. I bought up two packs of broccoli, a set of peas and for the fun of it, a strawberry plant to put in the smaller planter I inherited from a friend. Megan got a free banana out of the deal. She charmed the owners.

We trucked over to the big bulls-eye store again. Logan had managed to misplace his blue plastic spade. Couldn't plant gardens without it. Yes, gardens. Last year I gave Logan the plants I had no room for. I like several varieties of tomato and oodles of cucumbers. I always end up with a few extra plants though. The solution was simple, Logan could have his own garden.

The plants and supplies waited patiently for us through an hour of Gymboree, retrieval of the boy from school, lunch, and getting Meg to nap. Logan was anxious to get outside with his new shovel and his watering can. We turned two rows of my garden - mixing in compost as we went along. He helped me plant the six plants tagged for my garden.

We moved to the corner of our yard where we set about expanding the size of his plot. Comfortable it was big enough to fit a proper sized garden for a boy who will turn 4 as he tends it this summer, we put his three plants in the ground. He watered his own veggies with great care. He pet the leaves and admired them fondly.

We dug out Megan's space. She joined us shortly after we began. She squatted close to the ground with her pink shovel and the little hand rake. She wore her slightly too big pink gardening gloves. She smiled, happy to be digging in the dirt. She dug herself a whole for her first plant. She helped me pat the soil around it. She left me to put the others in the ground while she located her little watering can. She doused the first plant generously then held the heavy can out to me. "Here Mommy. You do," she said. She watched me though and she clapped.

And so here we are. The first week of April - temperatures not quite warm enough to do more than think about my beloved tomato, cucumber, herb, pumpkin and other veggie plants. Yet we have gardens. We have weeded. We have watered. We've made it Spring time in our yard whether it wants to be or not.

Yup. See. I know. Stubborn.

9 comments:

Cin said...

I like you're stubbornness, it's part of your charm...

Happy Thursday, Michele sent me!

srp said...

Growing gardeners and gardens. A nice way to be stubborn. It was cold here yesterday, now 74. No wonder my sinuses are a mess.

Here from Michele. You popped up before I could hit post.

Anonymous said...

Here from Michele too! I think being stubborn is a good thing!

Sarie said...

Hello Michele sent me.

Star said...

That's a lovely picture you have painted in my head. You, Megan and Logan all digging in the gaatden. Michele sent me.

Leslie Shelor said...

Stubborn is good. I'm from a long line of people known for their stubbornness.

Michele sent me.

keda said...

we pulled some kind of japanes poppie looking things tubors from the icy cornish soil at christmas and brought them back here. we planted them our first day back in january in a pot on our balcony. all with frozen fingers....
they like it here i guess and the girls have been studying them each day and show me how large the leaves are getting.

lovely post. thanks*

Unknown said...

I know what you mean about being stubborn about certain things, like gardening. I was out the other day cutting back all the canes on the roses and cleaning out the perennial beds, and it's WAY too early for that here. I just have to get it done early. Of course it snowed 2 days later. I'll never learn, though.

Here via Michele

carmilevy said...

Imagine where the world would be if it were populated exclusively by non-stubborn people. We would never advance as a species.

Keep pushing the envelope. It's a good thing.