And They're Off!

This time of year, when I make five to-do lists a day and complain that I'll never get everything done, is like going to the races. It's a race to get all the trays cleaned in time to plant all the seeds. It's a race to plant the seeds in time for their seedling transplanting several weeks later. It's a race to clean up the flower beds for a good mulching that will thwart the weeds. It's a race to move volunteers to their new bed (usually it's garlic and sprawling strawberries). It's a race to get in the onion plants and sets before the seed potatoes arrive. It's a race to get the brassicas planted to make room on the hardening-off porch for the new perennials and standard annuals. Oh, face it: it's a race all season long!

As much as a race, spring gardening feels like a balancing act. I can clean up the outside flower beds when the weather's nice, but if I spend too much time on them, I get behind on seed starting indoors or pot making or tray cleaning. I balance the planting of cool-weather seedlings against the weather forecasts and balance the risk of their demise with the extra time or effort or expense of cold frames, row covers, or more hardening off. Then there's deciding whether to transplant the tomato and pepper seedlings into larger pots or to start the melons and winter squashes.

Nevertheless, I always seem to get enough done to reap huge harvests in the fall, so why the racing around and stress? Because if I weren't racing around, it wouldn't get done and the harvests would be smaller, of course!