Plotting in the rain

“What’s a rainy day
without some delicious
coffee-flavoured loneliness?” 
Sanober Khan, Mumbai poet

“Nora! Are you planting already?” I jerked upright, caught dirty handed in my own front yard.

The question came from the venerable lady who once owned our house and whose shoes as a gardener I will never fill. (To this day, people adjust their walking path through the neighborhood just so they can see what’s blooming in the cottage garden she installed and I, more or less, maintain.) She wasn’t being snarky, just concerned. It’s been that kind of spring — sun-tea weather one day, hats and gloves the next.

“No. No. Don’t worry,” I reassured her. “It’s only the stuff in pots.” And, that was the truth. Mostly.

The indoor stuff is now back outdoors, rejoicing in today’s gentle rain but still entirely movable. Baby impatiens are peeking over the cheery yellow pots that frame the entrance to our porch. Movable. A fresh, woodsy-smelling layer of soil — but not one plant, no ma’am — is now atop the massive pots that remain outdoors year-round, with the exception of one window box whose contents are set like concrete for some reason.

Check. Check. Check.

There are also, however, two specimens that could be a bit of a problem should my rainy day musings win out over prudence. Shhhh.

It’s sweet basil and peppermint that practically jumped into my shopping cart yesterday. They’re destined for the window box that sits just outside the kitchen door. Our predecessor used to fill an earlier version of the box with tall, short and trailing magnificence. Different colors and plants each year. I’ve tried a bit of everything — nothing as pretty as the mixes from the past, or so I’ve heard. Whatever. I may have settled on herbs. So handy. Lean out the door — snip, snip and pesto.

The problem is, while their little plastic nursery pots are eminently portable. The window box is so not. Even if I manage to break up or replace the soil without assistance, the box is far too heavy for me to move if it does turn cold. The Weather Channel suggests it will not, but you really never know. So, for today, the plants sit on the deck table, still safe.

Today, however, it is also raining and my jelly-bean garden clogs are looking mighty good. It’s the perfect day to sip coffee and plot. It may be the caffeine, but I’m thinking safety is sometimes overrated.