Paul makes fun of me for gushing about Michael Pollan, Bill McKibben, etc.

But I can think all year, and not boil it down like this:

“But there are sweeter reasons to plant that garden, to bother. At least in this one corner of your yard and life, you will have begun to heal the split between what you think and what you do, to commingle your identities as consumer and producer and citizen. Chances are, your garden will re-engage you with your neighbors, for you will have produce to give away and the need to borrow their tools. You will have reduced the power of the cheap-energy mind by personally overcoming its most debilitating weakness: its helplessness and the fact that it can’t do much of anything that doesn’t involve division or subtraction. The garden’s season-long transit from seed to ripe fruit — will you get a load of that zucchini?! — suggests that the operations of addition and multiplication still obtain, that the abundance of nature is not exhausted. The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world.” From the NYTimes magazine

http://tinyurl.com/64xqeu

Today I dragged my dirt from the store about a mile in my old grandma cart. It’s time to recycle the thing, since it tips, and doesn’t function as the City Minivan that it used to. Still too cold to plant the seedlings outside.

Today I planted seeds and pruned grapes.

I feel late to start seeds, but since I’ve jumped the gun so many times before, it’s probably for the best.
I remade all the paper pots that I rolled back in January because they were wonky and did not survive storage in a paper shopping bag. Apparently, paper pots are attractive nest fodder for kittens.

The rejiggered pots are much more durable and need far less paper than the first round. Rather than doubling the paper as in the demo video, I just folded the top edge, and went after a much shorter pot with a more solid bottom.
(That’s morning glory seeds soaking in the jar, and a jar of last year’s pickles in the background)

After the pots were made, I set myself to the task of choosing which seeds to start. Tomatoes, borage, morning glories, marigolds, thyme, basil (questionable seed), sweet alyssum, bachelor’s buttons (ancient seed), more tomatoes, pinks, and more marigolds went in. Planting went easy, in a purchased seed starting mix. For the flowers, which I’ll be able to put out from very small seedlings in about a month, I just used egg cartons. I am very committed to the Butter & Eggs marigolds, so they merited paper pots.

As I planted, the cats went berzerk because a bee was in the house. Bees? Already? It was 35 degrees two days ago! Paul helped it out the window, where I hope it won’t die without anything to eat. If I was a real hippie, I would have made it a little nest in a paper cup and fed it nectar with a pipette, but I am clearly a meanie.

Then, I tackled the complicated part, cat-proofing the seedling area. I used a bunch of bread delivery trays to construct a cage of sorts.

Then a nap, then Jeff came over to check out the diggings. We gossiped, ate sfogliatelle and then Jeff helped me clear vines out of the back corner.

After he left, I cut back about half of the grapes. Not sure if I’m doing it right, but I found multiple instances where canes that I pruned last year grew several fruiting canes. Tomorrow, I’ll do the rest.

I went upstairs when it got dark, and the cats had already gotten into the seedling cage. Paul and I made it stronger. We can no longer open the freezer without removing the top cover, but hopefully it’ll last longer. Grrrr.

A long day of bees and scheming about destruction.