Just a little taste of what I'll be doing tomorrow (and posting about on Tuesday.) Confused? Don't be, it's the magic of backdating!

Gardeners, plant and nature lovers can join in every Sunday. Visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

I work a lot. As in, I am at work often from early morning into the evening, well into late spring. As my yard begins to blossom everywhere I found that I really was missing out on a lot of enjoyment of the flowers as they bloomed. Watching the tulips bloom, turn wilty and die from my driveway was demoralizing. Why plant bulbs at all? *shrug*

But then I thought about cutting them. I don't know just why this seemed like a bad idea but I knew I didn't feel comfortable hacking them off the plant. Finally I had to have a head-to-heart about the whole situation. These flowers were going to die whether I picked them or not. I could either take them with me and enjoy them all day or leave them to die unappreciated. I rummaged around the kitchen looking for a container. Of course, somewhere in a random cabinet are 147 flower vases, and of course, I could not find them.

My solution? A coffee travel mug. I know, kind of low-rent but you know what? It fit perfectly in my car's cup holder. (Go figure right?) I liked it so much that I left them there and took OTHER flowers with me the next day for my office.

I got to enjoy them for the whole commute and back and while I wasn't standing in my yard like I would have liked, I did get to keep a little piece of it with me.

In the spirit of total disclosure, I did also drive around with a container of dead flowers for several days. That one is hard to explain to passengers who aren't familiar with the quirkier bits of your personality.

This last weekend was great. I had ample time outside and plenty of opportunity to use my new shears and for hour after blissful hour I listened to music and tore through my back yard. Yesterday I paid the price for that foolishness. I'm not sure exactly what I was thinking. I basically pulled the equivalent of Homer Simpson deciding to runn a marathon. This morning as my daughter stirred in her bed I thought to myself . . . "It hurts when I breath." Yes, it's true, I had so over extended myself that the very act of inhaling AIR caused me to wince.

Of course, mommyhood stops for no woman (injured or not) and it wasn't until I had schlepped said baby-girl downstairs, deciphered that she was saying "britches", changed her diaper and snuggled her back in bed, that I was able to finally assess the damage. Assessment: Everything Hurts.

So fellow gardeners, be gentle with yourself these first few weeks and remember that you have to ease into it. Stop and rest often, and enjoy the outside (before the bugs come and ruin everything).

So that is what I have been staring at since last fall. Pretty demoralizing I must admit. Last weekend the Husband took great pity on me and razed the whole area. It was very exciting to see the yard and garden begin to look tidy and full of potential. By the end of the weekend (last weekend) the garden was tilled and the new fence posts were in place and I was ready to go. That is, until Monday when the rain started . . . and Tuesday . . . and pretty much straight through until Friday late afternoon. So it wasn't until this past weekend that we could continue working on it. But now the fence has gone up and been tacked down and in the last few hours of Sunday I got the kohlrabi, cauliflower, peanuts, and eggplant in. So now when I look out there, what I see is full of potential. And soon, it will be full of plants!

Columbines and Dahlias are my new favorite flowers. These guys got mowed no less than 5 times last year and came back for more this summer. As far as I'm concerned, they can stay!

Gardeners, plant and nature lovers can join in every Sunday. Visit As the Garden Grows for more information.