A lesson in planning before carrying out a project

A dear friend passed Saturday (RIP Bryan Tilford) making it a contemplative weekend. We’d spoken just the night before.  Bryan could always be counted on to be awake working in the wee hours as I was, and we’d often connect and share thoughts.  I went into gardening mode, taking my pruning shears into the yard and began topping the turk’s cap. An hour later, cuttings in hand, I went to my mate’s and began creating a garden outside his dining room window.  His home gets full sun, so I also brought over a loquat for shade next year.

I added potting soil and mulch to the limestone fill and stuck in the cuttings and watered them well.  I could hear them screaming for nourishment as the water quickly drained. I hadn’t planned well.  I should have dug the bed first, then added the soil, mulch, peat and black cow and mixed it together before sticking the cuttings in.  I did it a day later, and added an aloe plant, four Dahlberg daisies, some ferns and topped it with my own oak leaf mulch.  I watered it and saw that the enriched soil was holding the moisture.  I should have done that from the beginning.  I hadn’t stopped to plan, I just let myself get in motion without much forethought. Anytime I do that, I find myself back tracking to do what should have been done right in the first place.  Not just in the yard but with work projects and Life in general. Now I strive to stay mindful, to think things through so I don’t have to redo projects I wasted time doing by not planning first. I’m getting better at it all the time.