Planning Ahead.... Roxanne Rustand

I never seem to learn my lesson when it comes to planning ahead.  Case in point: My husband and I have had a garden behind our house for years.  Nothing huge--maybe 20x20--and every spring, we would till it up into a soft, loamy bed of rich, black Iowa dirt.  And then I would head off to the garden center with stars in my eyes.  This would be the banner year!  Wonderful sugar snaps, green beans, loads of ripe, sun-warmed tomatoes for an endless number of BLTs. Onions, radishes, green and red and yellow peppers....on and on, the list would grow.  And while stretching strings between my stakes for planting straight rows, it always seemed as if there was sooo much room for just one more row...or two. Then everything grew, and grew...we'd be gone for a week here and there, and by August we had a world champion weed patch that was nearly impassable.  Are you a gardener? If so, you're probably shaking your head in disbelief.


After years of my gardening flops, my husband finally convinced me to give up on a veggie garden, plant just a few of them--green beans, tomatoes and peppers--on the perimeter, and plant perennials instead. It looked so nice in the spring! As with so many things, I wish I'd listened to him and done this sooner.  And...I also wish I'd paid a wee bit more attention to the tags on those plants.  :) 

Everything looked so pretty and well-spaced, until some of those perennials grew.  For instance, take a peek at the red flowers in the top left photo. Did you know rose mallow can grow to five feet tall and five feet wide--with beautiful blooms 6-8 inches across!?  It has now taken over almost half the garden!

I  love the flowers, and the never-ending changes of the colors as the season moves from spring to fall. 

But this latest garden adventure also reminds me that I need to do a better job of planning with other aspects of life--instead of madly cleaning the night before relatives arrive, or writing late into the night because I dawdled too much prior to a deadline.

Are you an organized person who takes everything in stride and keeps "your ducks all in a row?"  If so, I would love to hear your suggestions for  maintaining a calm and orderly life!