Dear Nature,

I believe that a healthy relationship is based on honesty. In the spirit of that, I want to recap what I promised you last year.

I promise...

I will accept that squash can't be grown in my tiny space, and I won't plant any.

I will accept that I can't grow enough soybeans to make it worthwhile.  I will buy bags of frozen edamame and be grateful that other people grow acres and acres of soybeans.

I will be honest about how many tomato plants I need and not get sucked into the descriptions in the seed catalogue.

I will keep track of the pepper varieties so I will know when they are ripe--green? yellow? red?

I will accept that I can't grow hellebores, even though I love them and that fact fills me with sadness. (Why can't I grow hellebores? Everyone else can grow them.)

I will either plant sunflowers where they have a shot at growing instead of scattering seed and hoping for the best or I won't plant them at all.

I will be honest with myself that I get carried away planting vegetables and then don't harvest and eat them all. I will plant only what I am sure I will eat, even if that means I fill my garden with flowers.

When the Burpee catalogue arrived in January, my willpower wavered. I know it's the same every spring, but I believe I can do better.

I'll put the squash in the yard behind the gardening space, and it can take over all it wants. I'll keep it away from the trellis so it doesn't encroach on the other veggies. I'll borrow a rotor tiller and make a nice spot for sunflowers. I'll document the peppers with more than just their name so I know when to harvest and how hot they'll be. I'll eat more vegetables!

But I might as well plant some soybeans since I already have the seeds. And since some of my tomato seeds haven't done well for two years now, it only makes sense to try some new varieties.  And since the squash won't be vying for space, I have enough room in the garden to try some new-to-me determinate tomato varieties.

The good news is that I haven't bought another hellebore... yet.