Yesterday was exactly the day I've been dreaming of: a full day outside--hanging laundry, setting up my garden architecture, shopping for plants and seeds, prepping beds, sowing seeds, filling pots with soil . . . so much puttering, and all day long a fresh wind that made me lift my nose like a hound.

Now that I'm reducing my vegetable footprint to the five garden boxes, I've opened up a lot of space for flowers. At the same time I've got things like pea fencing and a bean trellis to repurpose. So, with luck, there are going to be a lot of climbers among the flowers. I do love to watch peas grow, and this year I'm going to watch sweet peas instead of shell peas. Last year I foraged four iron plant posts off the street, and now I'm going to use them as supports for mid- and late-summer vines--scarlet runners, morning glories, canary-creepers.

I feel pretty happy about this change. I wasn't sure I would, but I do. It's going to take a lot of pressure off me in a lot of ways--cut down on my groundhog angst for one thing, reduce the harvest and processing frenzy for another, but still keep my basic kitchen garden fresh and accessible, still let me revel in earth-things.