Do Birds Eat Refried Beans?

He was right, of course...the wizened old man. "In this zone, missy, there's no sense planting cucumbers until the blackberries blossom."

Yup. He was a wisdomed old man.

Every year I'm in such a hurry to see something green to replace the colorlessness of winter (and do not try to tell a landlocked non-skier from the upper Midwest that white and gray are colors), that I rush to brush the final bastians of snow drifts off my garden plot and force seeds into half-thawed ground.

Is it any wonder I had to replant cucumbers again this year? The seed store must love me. "Hey, Charlie! Here she comes! This is rich. No, don't try to give her planting advice. She won't take it anyway. Just sell her the cuke seeds she wants...the burpless kind. And set another packet behind the counter for a month from now when she has to return for more. Double sale. Gotta love it."

I'm replanting beans this year, too. Different reason...I'm pretty sure.

Normally, I'm fighting bunnies rather than impatience for a crop of beans from my garden. Cute little varmints. Despite our family's penchant for wide open spaces, last year we became fence-putter-uppers. The vegetable garden plot looks like a South Georgia maximum security facility.

So the bunnies are more or less thwarted in their attempts to decimate my garden. Why am I replanting beans? Some years, the bird mamas in our neighborhood must swap recipes and send their male counterparts to my garden "store" for the ingredients for refried beans. That's the only reason I can think of. Or, I suppose, the ground wasn't yet warm enough for germination. Nah, couldn't be.

In what other arenas of life might I plant too early? Relationships? Proposals sent to prospective publishers?

Decent proposals. Nothing wrong with the seeds themselves. Maybe I should have waited for the ground to warm up.

Interesting observation: The cuke seeds I replant in that short stretch of days when the blackberries blossom seem to spring up overnight. They're sturdy, healthy, productive plants.

The beans I replant? Same thing. Overnight sensations.

You'd think I'd learn.

How does YOUR garden grow?
Cynthia