Garden Planning

I've been scribbling and scratching on paper for months plotting my garden plots; in fact I started it LAST summer. I have notes about what grows good where and sidebars about what I liked and didn't like about certain tomato species and what the black swallowtail caterpillar-cum-butterfly ate for lunch. But, this year I'm adding something new to my lay outs: a computer garden plan module. Wow, never thought I'd be saying that. Remember, I'm an organic person in the sense that I prefer paper to plastic, pens to keyboards, walking to wheels. I do not have nor do I want enough left-brain synapses to plan my garden with a right click in an autoCad type program. I did miserably poor on the high-school what's-your-best-vocation tests where we added missing parts to three dimensional objects. I already knew I didn't want to be an engineer. However, this garden program has the three criteria I most require: A) easy B) easy C) easy. And, it looks so stinkin' cute on the screen. There are several garden planners out there offered by different magazine/seed companies. Through a little sleuthing I discovered they are exactly the same program so I chose to subscribe through one of my favorite magazines: Herb Companion. Last night I had a little glitch (which is not unusual for me when it comes to anything electronic or mechanical) and I emailed the support center. We all know how disappointing "support" centers can be, but this morning bright and early I had a response waiting for me. Not only did my new BFF "Jeremy" answer my questions, he went the second mile and tweaked the program to accommodate my operational issues. Ahhh, customer service may be wounded, but it's alive. Now, I am even more delighted with my new "program" and am laying out new gardens at a pace that rivals Henry Ford's assembly line.

Yesterday afternoon Gary and I, Cassie, our trusty farmer-dog, April, the queen-of-everything cat, Chance, the neighbors dog and at least three Mables, the laying hens, all trooped out into the field to finish marking off the rest of our nine garden plots. After measuring, remeasuring and measuring again just for good measure (my husband got the engineer gene) to be sure they were square, plum, accurate to the nth degree, aligned with the north star and could easily be entered into the surveyors hall of fame if there is such a thing, we pronounced it not only finished but perfect. Perfect in spite of the fact we couldn't locate the compass prior to beginning. Now all I have to do is transfer my plants from the paper to the dirt and I'm off and running. Life is Good.