Doug was preparing to teach the rest of his classes by video conference, we’d laid in a stock of groceries, and I had crossed half a dozen concerts and several parties off my calendar, feeling anxious and distressed, when I looked out the window and saw this.

And realized it was time to start my seedlings! Yay! Doug brought my folding tables upstairs to the guest bedroom. I got my collection of saved milk cartons out of the garage, poked drainage holes into them, shoveled in some potting mix, and rifled through my newly-arrived seed packets. In addition to my favorite tomatoes – Black Pearl and Burpee Supersteak – I am planting another set of Indigos. These are the ones that turn dark blue when they ripen, so the squirrels don’t recognize them as tomatoes and eat them. Or they didn’t last year. Let’s hope squirrels are slow learners. I’m also starting Japanese eggplant, and white Profusion zinnias, a low-growing, almost groundcover type. Nurseries tend to have them in mixed colors, and I use the white ones to give a little coherence to the front flower bed’s wild – well, let’s call it broad – assortment.