BEST LAID PLANS

The temps are still plummeting at night, although generally staying above the 32 degree mark that we know as "freezing!" I'd heard that we were supposed to have snow showers last night, but no matter how hard I tried, I was unable to stay awake all night to test that theory. Suffice to say that it felt a bit nippy when I let the cat out at 4:30 am, and it certainly COULD have snowed a bit....but don't ask me to swear to that! The most important bit of news I have, in light of our cool nights, is that my BABIES (seedlings) have been outside for a week now, and they are looking awesome! I've grown a few seedlings in past years, but never this way. In the past, I had coddled them a lot, and really didn't allow them to toughen up as much as I maybe should have. This year, when I finally get them planted, they should be hearty enough (and they look big and healthy already!) to withstand any turns of the weather, and to sustain the will to live in our "iffy" NCW springtime. I and others in my dahlia growing community have been making lots of plans, around tilling, planting, fertilizing, and work parties. What we have found is this: no matter what you plan to do on a given day, you need to be flexible enough to monitor, adjust, decide, re-schedule, adapt or compensate. If we have had a lot of rain, it might be too wet to till that day, especially if you have a lot of clay in your soil. If the tiller won't start, or the pull cord breaks on you, you will need to get that fixed, and if the thing STILL won't start, you may need to find a girlfriend with an electric tiller that you can use......If it is pouring down rain on the day you plan to buy a load of compost, it will probably be too heavy to haul and unload that day, especially in the little pickup that used to belong to your dad. Then, make sure you have a fun friend to unload the truck with - works a lot better and you laugh a lot more. If you were going to plan and map out your gardens today, but you end up running out of time because you decided to spend a couple hours listening to music in the park with your sisters, do it tomorrow instead. Or, if you decide to spend the day fishing with friends instead of gardening, that too, can be a very good idea...you're not planting until Sunday, anyway, and Mom loves fresh trout!! There are many ways to put a smile on the faces of the people you love. Dahlias are one way, music is another, and fishing and fresh air can't be beat. By the way, if you haven't been to the Wenatchee area for a while, this is a great time to come. The blossoms are blooming all up and down the valley, right on schedule this year. The bright pink Cherokee Chief dogwoods are in full bloom, and are peppered throughout neighborhoods all over town, the tulips, daphne, mock cherry and orange, tulip trees, primroses, gerbera daisies, heather and all other forms of floral color are bursting with color. Nourish your soul with all the beauty around you - it makes the time between opening up the boxes of tubers and the first dahlia bloom of the summer go more quickly, and infinitely more satisfying. Carpe Diem!