Make a plan, scrap a plan

Well, that was nice. I started this blog of accountability and then promptly left town for a week to visit family in Michigan. Late spring is not an ideal time to leave the garden, mind you, but my trusty partner took to my bucket method with little protest, and for that I am very grateful.

He did ask, a few days into my absence, whether the bucket count truly was 14, or if it was possible that the number was something higher. Much higher. He was very correct in this insight. Fourteen has long been a favored number of mine, and my math brain enjoyed the fact that it took 6 buckets to complete the waterings outside the gate, with the seventh bucket landing the water-bearer within the protected portion of the garden. A few days into this method, though, I had to be honest with myself: 14 buckets was a mirage.

Look, I’m new at this. My yard projects this year are the most ambitious I’ve ever attempted. And, a few months in, I am already learning so much. One of the lessons gifted to me is this: make a plan, scrap a plan. Nature has her cycles, her dances, and asks for flexibility and nimbleness. In the garden, as in life at large, it’s helpful not to get too rigid or dedicated to one idea, because inevitably the chaos of the universe shows up to remind you that existence is in a constant state of movement.

So, I have stopped counting the buckets. I still have a routine, more or less, of watering things in a certain order. This helps me check-in on the various patches of growth and keep a somewhat orderly narrative of the development. But, in addition to the weather getting hotter and the rain sometimes not coming when one think it might, I have also (graciously) received many foisted plants from neighbors. I notice that I don’t seem to want to say no to the offer of a free plant— especially if it’s one I’ve never even heard of before.

Thus, 14 buckets has become many more, and will likely continue a cycle of ebb and flow. My partner did, while I was away, make mention of perhaps investigating the hose department at the hardware store… but for now I uphold my stubborn stance.