Sure things get caught in the trees year round, but in the spring, there’s a ragged plastic bag for every other tree.

Between my current limited mobility and my perpetually limited budget, I decided it was time to unpack the flower pots and containers, and revive my role as (urban) Farmer Fringe.  Ok, so maybe half the pots were just sitting out on the terrace, and hadn’t actually been emptied since I last used them two years ago.  I confirmed with friends who know how to garden and my special friend Mr Google that I could reuse the old dirt, mixing in new and some food. Fertilizer.  Whatever those little pellets are called. I used my little gardening tools (no, I don’t know their names either) and attacked the old dirt to loosen and aerate the old soil, and remove the long dead plants that I certainly should have removed long ago.  I always mix up perennials and annuals, so honestly I’ve never bothered to pay attention to which category I’ve planted.  The interesting part is that in one of the pots, I could tell what had been in there (nope, don’t remember what) was the type that could grow back, because the dirt was different. Once I got below the first few inches, the soil was darker, moist, and seemed live.  Is live the right word?  I’m thinking in reefing terms, like live sand.

A couple of months ago I had purchased some flower bulbs that I found on sale.  Husband drove Art Child and I to the big box store in the Bronx so I could get fresh soil without going broke,

and some seeds.

I also found this neatogroovycool seed starting kit.

I know myself well enough to know I’d never remember which seed I planted it which little pod, and I surely wouldn’t recognize the sprouts, so Art Child labeled Post-It flags for each square.

Nor did I account for the energy and physical effort required to get the seeds and bulbs planted–even though I did all from a chair, and spread it out over three days. One of the bulbs planted needed to soak for a few hours before being planted. By the time they were ready, I couldn’t bend at all anymore, so I waited til the next day. Wow, do those things absorb water!  The next morning, they were unrecognizable.  It’s possible I planted them upside down.

But look what’s happening now, a week and a half later!

One last photo, just because the other morning sunrise felt especially promising.