Crazy as it sounds, I am already looking forward to after the holidays. Why, you ask? Isn’t this the most wonderful time of the year?
Yeah, whatever. It’s standing between me and that glorious season I look forward to all year… garden catalogue time! Like an addict, I watch for the next delivery of earthy reading, complete with lots and lots of pictures. I spend hours drooling over blueberry varieties and various types of cucumbers, tomatoes and pumpkins.
Gone are the memories of the days spent trying to assassinate squash bugs. There are new plans for this year, plans for an impenetrable fortress to keep the squash safe. Plans to keep the pigweed at bay, to keep the tomatoes harvested in a timely manner.
So many plans. And they all begin with the arrival of seed catalogs, just a week or two away now.
There will be glossy photos of things I didn’t even know existed. Now that I’ve seen them, I simply must have them. Knee pads and arm protectors and sun proof hats. Baskets and shears and plant supports. Fertilizers galore, weed spray or bug spray without end. I’m giddy just thinking of the endless array of supplies I can hoard until the seeds arrive and then emerge.
Of course we all know I am far too cheap to spend good money on spray when I could just pull the weeds when they are little, and for free. Why would I buy fertilizer when I have a whole year of chicken poop composting? Grandpa didn’t need all that fancy stuff to feed a family of six kids and multiple farm hands, not to mention finishing out pigs on the excess. If he could do it, so can I. Last year (and the 10 or so before that) is in the past, time to make new history! A neatly laid out, weed free, bugless garden. All done with elbow grease alone.
Anybody can buy stuff for a great garden. Only those who are made of tougher materials can make it happen through sheer force of will and poverty of pocketbook.
Besides, I must hang on to a few shekels for the even more glorious season after garden porn season. You know, when the chick pamphlets start to arrive.