The next thing
Before I did the next thing, I got distracted by the third thing, etc., on and on around the Mobius strip of life in the garden. Gardeners know that a garden will present what it considers the first and second things are, and this sequence is in constant discussion with my impulses and distractibility… and that’s the way things get done.
For example, it’s April and time to take a chance on the weather being my friend and not freezing much more till mid-autumn, so I announced my intention to hook up my water delivery system. All the hoses climbed out of the pump house and arranged themselves in the sunshine. I asked for volunteers, and we went to work. The plan was for three hoses hooked up to reach the middle of the garden and another added on to reach all around.
To secure the connections, I needed pliers. Went to the shed and noticed there was recycling being cluttersome, so I took a handful to my car. Oh look, a butterfly with bright orange spots. When will somebody wash this car? Not until the hoses are hooked up which was my principal mission for the morning.
So, I needed the pliers. Back in the shed, I remembered to look for green garden twine because I intend to mend a couple weak spots in the laundry basket while I watch the women’s championship basketball game. The pliers live right above the twine box, so that should have been a two for one, but the pliers were not there. They were on duty in the greenhouse.
If you are an earnest gardener with a greenhouse at this time of year, you accept that the next available slot on your calendar for swiffering your kitchen floor will be mid-June. Now in the greenhouse is the time you face the consequences of planting too many seeds in a tofu tub just in case there’s poor germination. Sometimes all of them germinate, and now’s the time to transplant them except now’s the time to hook up all the hoses. I have the pliers…
and the garden twine, which needs to go inside, and I notice henbit flowering by the shed. You can eat it, you know, but not now. As I approached the door to put the twine inside, I noticed the laundry was still on the line and it was windy, so the laundry piled itself into the basket I intended to mend with the green twine and we all went inside.
On the way I noticed three beautyberry plants waiting to be planted in the garden. I’ve never grown them before, so I get to learn about them. If only there was water down there.
It was not the time to put away laundry except for the blue jeans and one shirt, so back to the greenhouse because I forgot the pliers. In the greenhouse, I remembered the water supply pipes in the greenhouse had a busted elbow. That project would require serious engineering and much study… so I paused for moment to study…
… Yep, needs a new elbow …
… (Weighted pause) Yep, but that water line to the garden ain’t gonna connect itself; engineering will have to come later.
The three primary delivery hoses plus the fourth one with a nozzle were relaxing on the grass waiting for me, well aware of how important they were to this year’s garden. We joked about the weather and wished it had rained more. Then, action! Bright Green attached at the water source and stretched 50 feet to the greenhouse Y. Emerald Green One stretched from there to the garden fence. Emerald Green Two sneaked through the secret hole in the fence to the center of the garden, and the Gray Heyhey with the nozzle hooked on at the end. I turned on the faucet at the source, and all the connections were secure. Yippee!
Good thing, because it was almost game time and I needed to water the onions.