Happy Spring, y’all!! I landed in Nashville two weeks ago, and this city decided to show me what I missed while I was away. Last Saturday, we woke up to 5” of snow and temps in the low 20s. The temperature went up to 50 the following day, so thankfully the snow didn’t stick around long. I checked on my hardy annuals and while they are swamped with weeds, I am finding that most of my plants held up very well. The ranunculus took a hit from the poor drainage in that spot on the property. The bed is on a little bit of a slope, so a gush of rainwater from a December storm washed some of them out. I rescued what I could before I left and crossed my fingers. Some of them have leafed out. I’m optimistic. Other failures were the stocks, calendula, and ornamental kale. If I’d covered the kale, I think they might have made it. I knew the stocks and calendula were iffy, as they are only hardy to zone 8, but I hoped that covering them with frost cloth would give them enough protection. The plants I had no doubts about were the snapdragons. But it appears I lost several of those. I suspect they were victims of voles or moles. Our yard is more rodent tunnels than solid ground. It’s gotten so bad that I’ve finally called The Molenator to exterminate them. In better news, it looks like I’ll finally get some sweet peas this year! I’ve always tried sowing them in spring, but we heat up so quick here, the plants croak before they are mature enough to flower. This time, I sowed them in November and overwintered them under frost cloth. They are lush and beautiful. The anemones are already blooming, and I’ve been able to harvest a few, along with several bunches of daffodils. I have lots of lenten roses blooming on the property. I put together my first couple of arrangements from the 2022 garden last week. Bates Nursery posted pictures on Instagram and Facebook to tease the return of Flower Power Fridays this year, and the response has been great. I’m not the only one excited about the coming flower harvests.

First Arrangement of 2022

Cuties I Rescued From The Snow

Adorable Anemones

My First Sweet Peas!

I have been in full garden-mode since my return. Plants and bulbs I ordered this winter are beginning to arrive. Opening every package feels like Christmas morning. I’ve sown hundreds of seeds (which have already begun to germinate), and I have several hundred more to sow today. I dragged most of my pots into the garage and planted the caladiums, oriental lilies, and calla lilies I stored this winter. With the glass garage doors we installed during our last renovation and the heater my awesome hubby put it for me, the pots can get lots of sunlight and get a head start on the season in the warmth of the garage. For the last few years, I’ve had fun experimenting with plant combos for mixed containers. Since I’m putting so much effort into a bigger and better cutting garden this year, I won’t have time to nurture beautiful pots all over the yard. Instead, I’ll use these containers for bulbs and plants I don’t have room for in the cutting garden. It will be easier to keep them watered if they are centrally located, so I’m gathering them all together and lining them up along one side of the garden. Tim did a fabulous job keeping my coleus cuttings alive all winter. I’ve potted them up, along with about 150 lisianthus plugs. I’d intended to plant the lizzies out a couple weeks ago, but the bed is still full of weeds and needs to be amended with compost. I did a decent job selling my surplus of plugs, but there were still 400 plants that desperately needed to get out of their tiny cell packs. I spent the weekend potting these up at Bates, and we will sell them in the greenhouse this spring. 

Coleus Cuttings Waiting To Be Potted

Germination!

Seedlings Look Great At Two Weeks

In other news, Pierce is doing great at T.J. Maxx. His job coach is pulling herself back so Pierce can begin working independently. She was driving him to work, but since she won’t be with him much longer, we’ve become responsible for his transportation. He’s only working one day a week from 9-2, but we hope to add another day to his schedule soon. Right now, I’m going into Bates late on Thursday mornings to drive Pierce to work, while Tim has rearranged his schedule to pick Pierce up on Thursday afternoons. We hope this is temporary until we can figure out permanent transportation. 

On the book front, I’ve given up on the search for an agent. I’m researching independent publishers that will accept manuscripts without agent representation. I’ve also found a couple of competitions for full-length manuscripts. I’ve entered one already, and will be working on other entries this week. My friend, JR Arostegui, is starting a podcast called Too Old For This. He is interviewing people who’ve done cool stuff a little later in life. Last week, he recorded an episode with me to talk about how I became a writer in my 40s. I don’t have a release date for this yet, but I will share the details here when I receive them. Or you can follow the podcast on Instagram here.

Finally, I wanted to share the link to our AirBnB listing for the condo. We’ve booked our first guests! We’ve hired a property manager in Chelem who can take care of the nitty gritty details with guests while we are hundreds of miles away. She is working on solutions to the WiFi issues I had while I was there, so our guests should have a better experience than I did. If you want to visit my little slice of paradise, here are the details. 

Time for me to get my hands dirty! Later!