I Taught Children About This.

and I still did it.

I have spent years gardening. I used to own and operate a 750 square foot greenhouse. I have taught children about seed starting, about soil, about what frost does to tender plants and why you bring them in before it gets there.

I know all of this.

The seedlings had been going since February. Grow lights on a timer. Heat mats under every tray. I thinned them carefully, the way you are supposed to, which is always a little heartbreaking when the seedlings you are pulling are perfectly healthy and did nothing wrong. I checked moisture levels. I rotated the trays. By April the basil, the broccoli, and the cucumbers were strong and green and ready.

The day before the frost, I went to the greenhouse and brought in the grapefruit tree. It is a whole production, the grapefruit. Heavy pot, awkward shape, requires two people and a furniture dolly. I gave it my full attention.

The seedlings, I left to bring in later.

I woke up the next morning, walked to the greenhouse, and found them gray-green and collapsed. The kind of collapse that does not recover. I stood there with my coffee, did a brief moment of silence, and then I went inside shaking my head thinking “rookie mistake, Indie”.

There is not much to say when you do something you know better than to do. The frost did not surprise me. I knew it was coming. I planned around it successfully for the grapefruit, which is currently sitting in the kitchen looking very pleased with itself. I simply did not finish the job.

The grapefruit is thriving. The seedlings are in the compost.

I am waiting until mid-May to put anything in the ground, which means there will be no more opportunities to make this particular mistake. The garden is not rushing me. I am apparently the variable.

Has anyone else done this? Tell me I am not alone. And if you are figuring out what you are planting this season, I would love to know what’s on your list or in my case, compost (UGHHHH).

XO, Indie