All to Good Use, and Right Timing

It is not the kind of March we have learned the hard way to expect.  Record setting warm temperatures have jump-started trees into early bud break, and me into an early apprehension that perhaps I got seeds started too late.  The average late freeze for this site isn't for another 5 weeks, but all nature has seemingly thrown caution to the wind, forging ahead with its own kind of bull market.  We will see if the spring bubble bursts.   Meanwhile, we have dragged the grill out of mothballs, are negotiating the early onset of allergy season, have been enjoying long walks, and Tir and I are enjoying the sunrise, the bird songs, and the donkey brays from the relaxing comfort of the deck.  It is precisely the location from which the three of us bid yesterday good night.  The deck; in March; in Iowa.  My, my! I can't, of course, speed the seedlings along but I can begin to lay the ground work for their garden debut.  Yesterday, with tape measure, twine, wooden stakes and mallet in hand, I took more accurate measure of the plot.  Staking out the corners I discovered that my autumn eyeballing had abbreviated the northwest corner.  The reel mower, I confirmed, isn't really designed for prairie grass, but it cleared well enough to suffice for the moment, though my pushing muscles have been angry ever since.  Subsequent stakes and joining twine now demarcate the center aisle (obligatory for a minister’s garden I think) and the first levels of trenching.  The fencing arrived day before yesterday, but I intend to stage that project after the trenches are dug. Now the guesswork begins -- or is it the crystal balling, voodoo, or rolling of the dice?  When do I get started?  I can surely begin digging the trenches, but I don't want the ground opened sooner than is useful. I will need to prod delivery of the load of manure, but it will then need a place to go. As I mentioned, I can't hurry the seedlings, but fully two-thirds of my seeds can go directly into the ground.  As long as it stays this warm and doesn't revert to winter.  They could certainly go first, and be joined later by the seedlings when they are ready.  Or I could wait until early May as originally planned.   I don't have to decide right away; besides, more rain is predicted for much of next week.  There are, nonetheless, preliminaries to address -- sooner, I think, rather than later.  There are tomato cages to conceive and acquire. There are tools from last year to refresh.  There are deer to start more diligently shooing away. There is that manure to schedule.  And, of course, the trenching.  Who knows how long that will take.   In the meantime, the sun has breached the eastern horizon, my coffee cup is empty, and it is time to make good use of the day -- now that this extraordinary morning has made good use of me.