Words about contentment inspired this series that celebrates ingenuity, creativity, and resourcefulness. Join me in the comments and share what you've done with what you have.
This is when I begin dreaming about having a greenhouse of my own. One I can stand in, plant in, drink a cup of tea in. By night I'd light up the inside with a strand of globe lights, or maybe from the ridge I'd hang that vintage brass chandy I've saved from my parent's dining room. By day I'd plant flats of seeds, their first leaflets soon reaching toward the sun.
I imagine newspaper pots with adolescent transplants all lanky and young. I imagine tomato plants full and green and ready for the garden. I imagine a miniature orange tree, and while I'm at it, I imagine a lemon tree, too. I imagine open roof vents and an open door, with the garden hose snaked inside, and the sound of a shower as I give the green a drink.
You, too?
When birds sing the night up from slumber, when the grass is tinged green around the edges, when the sun is gently pushing cold right on into next fall, when spring is just around the corner, all I want to do is have four glass walls and a roof in which to plant something.
Every year I dream (and hope), and every year it comes down to, not this year.
You, too?
Let's not stop dreaming, loves. Those dreams are rich and full. They are needed in this life. If they're for a time other than this, let's just tuck them away, let's keep them for then. And in the mean time, let's do what we can with what we have: let's dream in miniature.
This little dream is a glass and metal terrarium I plucked from a jumble at an antiques store a long time ago. It looks for all the world like a greenhouse to me.
Yesterday, I pulled it out, set it on my potting bench, and pondered. A plan began to germinate. I pulled peat pots from their stack, fitted them inside: twenty-eight. I may not be able to start scores of seedlings in this greenhouse, but I can start at least twenty eight.
Soon I had seed packets strewn over every available surface. Sorting, wondering, planning. Should I start tomatoes and peppers, or should I start flowers? It's all one big experiment, really, as any gardener will tell you. Try this, then try that. Note which one worked best. The thing to do is read what you can, then dive right in.
Loves? If you need me, I'll be planting in my greenhouse.
Do what you can with what you have.
P.S. Speaking of spring, spring break is just beginning for us here. I'll be off with my family, enjoying all that. I'll see you back here Monday, March 21st. In the mean time, you can find me on Instagram if you'd like. Wishing you the loveliest of spring weeks, friends!
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