As a rash decision, later labeled 'resolution', I have decided to quit smoking by using nicotine patches. The nicotine poison has had benefits for my garden. While my voice has become gravelly from an odd new sore throat, the added dopamine no doubt has vivified my dreams which are quite radical now, concluding in a satisfying awakening as if walking out of a movie theater. I used to complain about winter's early dark, but now, able to wake up early, I can utilize the dawn's cracking for temporal leverage in garden work. Seeing the garden this morning was nice, but from my window I could see a tide of trash (litter). I grabbed a trashbag, a bucket, and a bag of concrete that had been next to my washing machine, insulting my procrastination since november. I filled a bucket about half full with water, then dumped in a lot of concrete. More used to plaster and the mortar, I waited for the islands to collect on the surface. Maybe I should have read the package. The mixture separated into a pile of rocks at the bottom and grey liquid at the top.
Everything in the garden was fine except for the poly has come loose from the frame on one side and is flapping in the breeze. Mention of the breeze was only to aid the reader in visualizing the damage, since today there was no breeze. It was 39 degrees. I mixed concrete and was able to set the concrete in the cinderblock holes where the frame fits in. I saw a conical spiderweb in one of the holes and contemplated the wrongs of killing the inhabitant. I threw a few pebbles at it and, nothing shaking, filled the hole. The ice must have killed it.
I started picking up garbage as fast as I could. A lot of doritos and rite aid bags. A bottle of nicholai, gin, and a few beers. Some wendy's. Who the hell dumps trash so liberally I don't know. It might travel a good distance and collect by some rule of garbage dynamics, wind patterns and street layout. The bitterness upon realizing that the busses have stopped running, leaving your only option to be a walk up-hill for a few miles at 2 in the morning with nothing in your stomache but doritos and vodka might drive someone to litter. But rite aid closes at 10:30 and busses run till 1:00 am. My goal is to build a huge recycling bin with separate places for glass and plastic right in place of the haggard shrub that even I feel like throwing something at. If that doesn't work, hopefully the garden itself will harbor respect.
I saw Beth today while picking up. She has the garden across the street, but refuses to garden in the winter. I told her of my plans to insulate the greenhouse. When talking of plant plans, she said she used to grow mellons, which would be radical, since shade wouldn't be too bad for them and with this behemoth of a house nextdoor I have plenty of that.
