New Year's Resolutions

Yes, I know it's March. Yes, New Year's day came and went two and a half months ago. But yesterday was the first day of spring, and to me that is when the new year truly begins. It's about the time when--if you're going to have a garden all--you better have at least thought about it.

I am a pathological planner. I have a garden calendar I developed that tells me exactly when I need to start my peppers inside, when it is best to plant the first lettuce in the cold frame and when the first tomatoes can be safely transplanted. I print it out each year and check off when I complete each task. I can tell you that I was three weeks late starting my pepper seeds and equally as late in planting lettuce outside.

I am a pathetic perfectionist. I could not find the right organic seed starting mix when it came time to seed the peppers.

I had not found the time to build a small raised bed in the hoop house, so I held off seeding the lettuce. And I was so busy with other spring cleanup tasks this weekend, that I did not have time to apply a load of mushroom soil to the potato row and so I certainly couldn't get them in the ground until that was done.

I am a person who procrastinates. A gardener has nothing but time in the winter. Time to peruse the seed catalogs and dream. Time to make lists of what to grow. Time to place where each crop will grow in the garden. All of this could be done in January in front of a warm fire, cup of cocoa in hand. Yet, there I was last week, sketching out where to plant everything--you have to have proper crop rotation, of course--knowing that the seeds would arrive the next day. The poor tomato seeds still sit on my kitchen counter waiting to be planted and the seed starting soil has dried out in the pots. Today, I will do it. Really.

My compulsion to plan and my desire for perfection has most definitely led me to procrastinate when it comes to my blog. Even now, as I struggle to find the right "p"s to complete my alliterations, my brain is screaming "just write something!" I want each blog to have a theme, to instruct, to be properly illustrated--a feature article ready for submission. No wonder I postpone!

So my resolution for the New Gardening Year is to let go of some measure of perfectionism and try to write something at least once a week. Sometimes you've just got to get it in the ground.