I think this gardening thing is making me go a bit insane. 

On Friday I purchased two very green and healthy looking tomato plants. I named them Belinda and Romeo, and carefully took them home and placed them on my deck. I was scared the wind might knock them down, so I wrapped them in a bag to await planting. On Saturday, I was delivered four cherry tomato plants and the pots to plant them in by my Mom who came to visit – however a wayward drawer from an end table she was also bringing me destroyed two out of four of the plants in transit. One was bent but still able to stand up. The cherries were named Thomas and Chip. 

On Sunday, after saying goodbye to my Mom, I headed out to the deck to plant my tomatoes. Each went into an individual pot, and I lined them up carefully on the deck in as much sun as I could find. Later that evening I headed to bed – however, I wouldn’t get much sleep. 

I woke up every hour, on the hour, as I could feel the temperature dropping from the cool air blowing in the window. I worried about my beloved tomatoes and hoped they were staying warm on the deck. I pictured them, shivering together in my dreams, and when I woke up, I rushed down the stairs and checked on them – they were fine. Standing there, being green as tomato plants often do, and they even had a few yellow flowers opening up. 

I heaved a sigh of relief and went about my morning and off to work.

After work, I checked on them again before cooking dinner. A pesky calico cat had been hanging around, and I was worried it had tampered with the plants. Nothing. The tomato plants were still happily growing. 

I continued on my evening, and settled into bed. As I was about to shut my lights out and go to sleep, I was suddenly jolted out of my semi-conscious state. My plants!

I barrelled down the stairs like a maniac, and threw open the door to the deck – scaring my poor roommates who happened to be sitting there, and frightening myself as I hadn’t expected them to be there. I got over it quickly and rushed to my plants’ side – and they looked very much the same as they had the last time I had checked on them.

This time I brought them in for the night, one by one, and placed them on a garbage bag in the dining area of our shared house. I left them smiling (at this point in my psychotic break, you’d think I’d be blowing them kisses, and reading them bedtime stories, but I haven’t advanced that far – and maybe that’s only because I haven’t decided which Dr. Suess book Belinda, Romeo, Thomas and Chip would prefer) and went to bed, knowing they were safe and sound. 

I woke up this morning, tired and groggy from my midnight gardening. I squeezed in an extra 15 minutes of shut eye, and was about to hit the snooze again, when I thought, my plants!

This is going to be a long growing season. 

DISCLAIMER: The Last Word is an opinion column, it is meant to provoke thought and debate. As such, any opinions written here are the writer’s own and do not reflect the viewpoint of any other Fitzhugh staff member or the directors of the Jasper Media Group Inc.