PLANT FLOWERS WHEN IT'S COOL

I’ve been dreading gardening in the summer heat.  I do not like heat.  And I do not like work a whole lot either.  So when the 51 plants I had ordered in a moment of insanity (yes, I ordered something that causes me to work because my church was selling them) arrived on a chilly, cloudy, 53 degree day, I was more than thrilled. 

I began by carefully digging a little hole and loosening all the dirt around it to give the dirt plenty of air pockets so the rain water can get to the plants, since they won’t have the benefit of garden hose water if my memory serves me correctly from the last few flower beds I cooked.  After planting five flowers this way, I reverted to stabbing the soil, pushing the “digging trowel”* (see definition below) sideways with one hand and shoving the flower roots into the crevice with the other hand, then mashing down the dirt.  Using this speedy technique, I planted all 51 flowers in 59 minutes.  I started at 11:12 and finished at 12:11, by which time I had peeled down to just a T-shirt in spite of the chill in the air.  I went inside and opened all the windows.  (I regretted that after a while.)

So my point is this.  When people tell you it’s too cold to plant flowers, don’t listen to them.

*Wikipedia says a trowel is “one of several similar hand tools used for digging, smoothing, or otherwise moving around small amounts of viscous or particulate material.”  “Viscious”?  Like maybe a snake?  Not in my garden!  Oh wait a minute.  That’s “viscous.”  Viscous means (and I quote) “sticky, gluey and syrupy, so if something is viscous , you usually don't want to stick your fingers in it.” Ya think?