So it's gardening season again and here I am, seed packets in hand, hoping for bountiful glory, destined for bushels of misery.
I went out to check on my trees and vines at the beginning of March and realized that even though I had placed a fence around my lemon trees, my dog was still just tall enough to eat the tops of the branches. SO OF COURSE HE DID.
When I saw the damage I immediately began to spiral. "I have to build taller fences and then replace all the bird netting over the garden bed. More dirt! I need more dirt! The red mulch isn't looking as red as it did last year. Must have more red mulch. Must. Get. To. Home. Depot." My heart was racing, my palms were sweaty and I felt light headed. Meenie, who also doubles as my garden buddy, watched me spiral with a look of amusement and embarrassment when suddenly, through the haze of insanity, I had a single moment of clarity.
Not this time.
In that moment, I decided I was not going to allow my garden to run my life. It is supposed to be relaxing, dammit, and I've never been so stressed out in my life! I took a deep breath, dropped what I was holding and walked into the house, but in order to make sure the spiral stopped completely, I had to pop a Xanax. A Xanax, people. It happened to be my last one.
I had to see my doc for a refill and she asked how I was doing with the anxiety and I told her I really only had to take one every once in a while, like when I'm spiraling about my garden. She got real quiet and said, "you need to do something you enjoy."
Now that you mention it, what the hell am I doing?
I talked to Mr. D about my resolve to take a simpler approach to gardening and he suggested the same things he's suggested every year. Try planting just one or two things. For whatever reason, I took that to mean plant one or two plants which sounded dumb to me, because it was dumb and also not what he meant.
So I have planted a crap ton of green beans, tomatoes and cucumbers. If I don't end up with a crap ton of green beans, tomatoes and cucumbers, I'm calling it.
Time of death: 19 years.
