Hi friend,
You know the advice that it's easier to get things done by breaking them up into small chunks? One of the ways I've been surviving this time of exhaustion is by breaking things up into even smaller chunks than I would normally.
I bought some herb starts -- parsley and basil -- at Fred Meyer and, though, it's a wee bit early for tender herbs like basil to go in the ground here, I wanted to get them going.
Of course, like cooking, gardening requires prep work. I didn't do any of my spring cleanup work last year either (not wanting to go get supplies during the pandemic), so everything on the deck, where I grow herbs, is a mess. (And the rest of the yard is out of control without me weeding it regularly, but that's a different story.)
So to get the herbs planted, I thought through in advance every step needed. Then I gave myself permission to skip steps. For example, do I really need to amend the soil? No. The herbs will still grow and it will be fine.
Then it came down to physically getting it done with my limited energy. My back's been hurting a lot lately since sleeping on the couch messed it up, so I bought a cheap high-weight folding stool from Amazon. I asked for help hauling the bags of potting soil to the deck. Then I chunked things up again:
🌱 Bring bucket o' gardening supplies and plants to deck. Rest.
🌱 Dig out perennial sage plants, dump new potting soil in planter and pull herbs out of plastic pots. Rest.
🌱 Replant the sage and plant the new herbs. Rest.
🌱 Clean up. Rest.
I read a meme a long time ago about how done is better than good, and it's really resonating with me right now. The concept is that it's so easy to let ourselves not start anything for fear we won't do it "right," and honestly that's capitalist bullpuck, but it's something we've absorbed all our lives.
Sure, "good" is a fine goal, but "done" gets it, well, done.
If I'd left those herbs in plastic pots forever they'd have been forgotten and died. The deck's still a mess and I didn't fertilize the soil and I didn't put the bags of potting soil far enough out of the rain to ensure they won't get soaked, but the herbs 🌱 got 🌱 planted 🌱 and that's what ultimately matters.
