Happy Mother's Day

Mom's Garden

At every nursery in town, there's a frost warning on the tables where they sell the annuals cautioning against planting tender plants until after May 5th or Mother's Day.

And so at long last the day is upon us and I am so over-promised that I am certain I won't be able to get even the most basic of my planting in place.

I got garden greedy this winter and signed up for a plot in a new community garden in downtown Silver Spring. At last word, it was to be ready this weekend, but each day I drove by this week. it still looked like a huge fenced lot of churned soil. No plot markings, no paths, lonely and dismal.

I have no idea how the thing will work. I have plot number 24 and I think I might use the fallen branches in my neighbor's yard to mark out my perimeters. I have plans to put  tomatoes there and my string beans. But I can't envision what 200 square feet actually is. And will I want to make a few paths through it so that I can access it? Will I have to amend the soil? I've seen the heavy equipment down there churning it up. And I read they took soil samples this winter to make sure the metal and other pollutant levels were at a minimum. I hope, anyway.

Meanwhile, my own garden is ready, too. I've got swiss chard and eggplant and cucumbers and basil and squash and tomatoes to go in there. And yet I think I don't have enough herbs and so I might want to go to the plant sale at Brookside.  But if I do that, I'll be using up precious garden time.

And then my other special flower, Patsy, is preparing for her prom. She needs help getting to and fro to hair appointments and other primping pleasures.

And there's the domestic goddess chores.

And I've got a creative project in the works. Last weekend, at a salvage shop, I bought a bucket of gorgeous pieces of glass slag. Yesterday, at a thrift shop, I found a huge, heavy clear vase. My friends at Flea Market Gardening offered the idea that I might string a few white lights in the vase and plant the glass pieces into and around it for maximum effect. I need to find the right string of lights and carefully wash the glass pieces to pick out the pretty ones for my new lamp. (Caution, too, to be sure to use gloves as the glass slivers are nasty.)

And then there's the social stuff. It's my turn to host our Friday night party. A friend promises to stop by. We may actually want to catch a movie.

And there's festivals and fun going on all over the town.

And Mother's Day. What do they have planned for me?

Life is so sweet. I'll take it all. The Putterer