How Does Your - Taking it peasy

I have a confession to make. Last week, when I was sitting in my very green cubicle writing about my toe and my chickens (it just hit me how weird my job actually is), I was simultaneously completely neglecting my plants. That’s right, just about every single plant that depends on me for survival, and there are quite a few, sat forgotten. Actually, I’m not sure that “forgotten” is the right word. I didn’t forget them. I flatout ignored them. I may have been a bit overwhelmed, and when I get overwhelmed sometimes I just need to block out the unnecessary and keep pushing through. Unfortunately for my plants, they were unnecessary. I love my plants, you know this. Nothing makes me happier than walking out back and picking something off a vine that I grew myself, and I have never taken for granted the fact that I am getting paid to play in the dirt. But sometimes I have to prioritize the things that really matter and let everything else fend for itself. So that’s what I did last week. I’ve had a few lingering deadlines and naturally I had several other projects pop up at the same time, like the beautiful Ruth Lustila’s birthday. I didn’t harvest, weed, burn, or do any insect or weather-related damage control. I didn’t even water my vegetables or the window boxes in the front of the office for an entire week. And guess what? The damage was minimal. I had a tomato plant lean a bit to one side, though she didn’t break, and several of my tomatoes split a little. I also had some holes in a few green beans thanks to the Japanese beetles, but that was it. Everything else was fine and I still pulled a healthy harvest for the size of my garden. So what does this mean? It means that it’s perfectly acceptable to let things slide once in a while. We’re all allowed to refocus and regroup, and it’s better to put something on the back burner so you don’t implode than it is to run around trying to do everything, all the time. It’s just not realistic, I say mostly to myself. I’m trying to remember that in 10 years, I will look back on this time in my life and wish I’d slowed down just a little bit. Hindsight is great, foresight is better. Back to our produce. Now that I’m above water again, I’m noticing that the powdery mildew completely went rampant on the peas. Our treatment of dish soap, baking soda and water only worked as long as I was treating it daily, and let’s face it, that’s never going to happen. I made a note in my garden journal so when I have powdery mildew next year, I don’t develop some sort of gardeningrelated amnesia and try the same treatment once again. Surprisingly, I am still getting a few peas here and there, but I’m only collecting the ones that are not stricken by the mildew. I did treat for the Japanese beetles again using the same spray that I used last time, but I’m really not all that concerned about it. They’re not nearly as bad as they were a few weeks ago, and hopefully now I can devote a little bit of time each day to going outside and checking on everyone. That way, I can pluck the little buggers off my vines and send them back to the underworld from whence they came before they terrorize my crops. In other business, I have taken it upon myself to revamp another area of the office. If you’ve walked into since its remodel, you have surely noticed a gang of spider plants living in our breezeway. What you may not know is that those plants are harboring a secret. They are sitting upon a piece of plywood which is covering a four foot by two foot tub. Now why would there be a tub built into the floor of the breezeway belonging to a newspaper office, you ask? Because Carol O’Leary is a plant-a-holic. To my knowledge, all of the plants in the office came from Carol, save for the ones I’ve been bringing in because I’m running out of space at home, but that’s for another column. When she and Kris had the building remodeled, Carol had the tub installed specifically for plants, but I don’t believe that it’s ever been used for its intended purpose. That’s where I come in. This winter, I’m going to use that gardening space as Carol intended. The problem is that the temperature in the breezeway is very difficult to control; it’s hot in the summer and chilly in the winter, so we need something just as hardy as our spider plants if its going to survive. Enter pothos! You know how much I love pothos, and since I’m already propagating several pothos babies (don’t look at me like that, you never know when you’re going to need one) it’s a convenient solution. We’ll use moss poles to grow the pothos up so we can utilize as much vertical space as possible. I’m going to put those in the back row with a cherry tomato right smack in the center of them. In the middle, we’re going to plant one of Brian Wilson’s incredible snake plants and some fresh herbs, and in the very front we’ll throw in some of those spider plants and possibly some lettuce and spinach, whatever feels right. Next time I’m whining about feeling overwhelmed with all my projects, do not remind me that I did it to myself. Mandee Ellis is a reporter at The Star News. Contact her at Mandee@centralwinews.com.