{"id":1639,"date":"2011-03-11T06:18:24","date_gmt":"2011-03-11T11:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/?p=1639"},"modified":"2011-03-11T06:18:24","modified_gmt":"2011-03-11T11:18:24","slug":"first-plants-in-the-garden-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/?p=1639","title":{"rendered":"First Plants in the Garden 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

(I wrote this last year when I first set out plants.\u00a0 Note this year I planted them all<\/a> at once, not just a timid few.\u00a0 Also, I set them in the ground a full two weeks earlier this year.\u00a0 I was disappointed last year to get such a late start with tomatoes, plus I’ve learned this region is milder than I thought.\u00a0 I still act like I’m gardening in Indiana.)<\/p>\n

March 21, 2010<\/p>\n

What I planted a month ago, tiny seeds hopefully placed in little cells-full of soil while snow still stood on the ground, I actually put in the ground today.\u00a0 Call me prudent, call me a whimp, but I didn’t plant all them all.\u00a0 Mostly planted lettuce but also some bok choi and cabbage.\u00a0 I wanted to set these out and make sure they would be o.k.\u00a0 What was I worried about?\u00a0 That it would get too cold?\u00a0 That winter-starved, newly emerged from hibernation animals would gobble them up?\u00a0 Honestly, I’ve got to stop holding back, garden-wise, and go for broke.<\/p>\n

Ditto writing.<\/p>\n

Ditto life.<\/p>\n

I started the process a couple days before I set them out.\u00a0 Prior to planting inside-grown plants outside the informed gardener hardens them off.\u00a0 That means setting ’em outside in a protected place for a short time one day, then longer the next day and with less shade, then finally overnight and through a day.<\/p>\n

One reason I love growing plants is because it teaches about and mirrors life.\u00a0 Like a young plant, I’m sometimes not good at sudden changes either.\u00a0 I prefer giving myself time to adjust to a new idea or plan or procedure.\u00a0 Let me put it on the edge of my brain, shaded from the intense heat of my worries.\u00a0 Then I’ll move it toward the center of my thinking, testing my worries, weighing pros and cons.\u00a0 Finally, I can plant the idea in my hands, my feet, my living.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(I wrote this last year when I first set out plants.\u00a0 Note this year I planted them all at once, not just a timid few.\u00a0 Also, I set them in the ground a full two weeks earlier this year.\u00a0 I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[69],"tags":[70,71,169,166],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1639"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1792,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639\/revisions\/1792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}