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On Monday morning, I surveyed the state of my freshly planted fields, critically taking in the state of our freshly purchased vegetation.

Like a practiced farm hand, I took in the landscape and was happy to see that none of the plants I put in the Earth on Sunday were in that wilted condition that sometimes happens after you plant. From the vegetables to the flowers, everything looked to be doing pretty good and the bonus is that I am successfully carrying grape vines into the second year.

All and all, it turned out to be a pretty successful day of planting, which I wasn’t intending on doing in the first place.

As opposed to previous years where I embarked on that tried and true method of gardening known as “winging it,” I actually did some research this year, mostly because spring was holding on to the cooler temperatures longer than usual.

I was doing this in an effort to hold off the antsy feelings I was getting from wanting a reason to play in dirt and distract me from the everyday. If I’m to be honest, I’ve been wanting to start doing things for the last three weeks, ever since the raspberries made their first appearance of the year. Being teased by early warm days didn’t help.

The weekend prior I planted my potatoes feeling pretty good that they would be able to start their growth due to their hearty nature and of course I’m still waiting for the plants to come up. The weakness inherent to my lack of patience.

Even as late as this past Saturday, I was holding off against the little voice that was tempting me with the idea that everything would be picked over if I didn’t do something soon. Irrational, but once the tiny hamster of my mind picks up the pace on the tiny hamster wheel, those kinds of thoughts are almost impossible to stop.

Still, I pondered the weather forecast and fresh with the knowledge that tomato plants ideally should be planted when temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees overnight I held fast, confident in my decision to wait.

Except, apparently I’m a liar and shouldn’t be trusted.

By the time Sunday was done we visited three separate places and came away with something at each, promising me a busy afternoon once we got home, which was exactly what I wanted, because in case you hadn’t noticed, the world is a bit of a challenge these days.

I bring that up, because as I’ve said often in the past and as many of you well know, the garden is a mind-number in the best of ways. Everyday thoughts and concerns seemingly vanish with each weed pulled in succession.

Each plant put in the ground is another moment of obscure bliss that firmly roots a person in the here and now and gives one something to focus on the rest of the summer. Normally in the past, I would set aside some time on the weekend to do a lot of my stuff in the garden or with the plants up front, but this year I’m going to try and do my level best to do a little something each night.

If that means pulling a few weeds here and there as my little moment of Zen, then fine, but I’ve determined that I need these little moments to forget and forge forward.

So if you are a chair of any of the meetings normally held on a Monday night, let’s keep those meetings short and within the bounds of spring and summer daylight.

Still, I guess I shouldn’t rule out that even if the sun does go down, I won’t strap a head lamp to my head and go out at night to do some things. I suppose it’s kind of a let’s-wait-and-see-what-the-day-brings-us sort of plan.

Now, could I have waited another week without a fear of plant limitations? Probably. One of the places we went to was clearly expecting more and I doubt we were at the point of having to suck up every plant we can find, but still — I’m glad we went.

It was a pleasant day shopping and a pleasant afternoon planting and was topped off by some homemade pizza.

Granted, with so much being done the day seemed to fly by, but that’s okay because I also was able to ignore the world for a little while and when it’s all said and done that alone made the whole thing worth it.