I'm in Love with March
Swooning in the garden…
March is here - my favorite month of the year. (And my birthday month.) Although the Spring equinox is on the 20th, the climate here in New Orleans says Spring is here now. I have garden planning and planting fever so I’ve been consulting my notes from last year as to what new things I want to experiment with in my planting. I’m a huge fan of the British gardening show Gardener’s World, which I watch on Brit Box, and I make notes in a journal when an episode has something I want to try.
Here’s a bitching moment: why is there nothing on American TV like Gardener’s World?! The dearth of gardening shows here is shameful! HGTV should change their name to Reno & Flip TV because that’s all they show and I’m sick of them. I only watch House Hunters International now - everything else is the same old wash, rinse, repeat.
So I looked through my notes for Sweet Pea notations. I knew there had been at least one show that included Sweet Peas. I found it, turned it on, and confirmed I was doing things right. I planted seeds in a large container back in November and they are taking off like gangbusters now that the sun is reaching them consistently. This is my first try with Sweet Peas and I’m impatiently waiting for the first flowers, hoping I get a few before our heat does them in. It’s very easy to grow tropicals here but not so much for some other flowery things that I love. I’ve gotten into salvias, though, which grow great and, in fact, I have some blooming now. The bees and butterflies love them. I’m really into attracting bees and butterflies to my garden so I’m always reading and learning and experimenting. Here’s a good article I read this week on the subject.
When I’m not reading about gardening, I’m reading pieces in litmags. In the past week I read some stellar Creative Nonfiction that I’ll share with you now:
Street View by Jamila Osman in Bellingham Review which won the 2022 “Annie Dillard Award” in Nonfiction. I can see why as it is an amazing piece of work. Do not miss it!
My Whole Life Has Brought Me Here, an excerpt from Abigail Thomas's new memoir, "Still Life at Eighty: the Next Interesting Thing" in Oldster Magazine.
Boys of Summer ‘22 by Teresa Tumminello Brader in Months to Years.
(Re) Surfacing by Rachel Laverdiere in Sundog Lit.
I want to plug SugarSugarSalt Magazine which I started back in August with Jamy Bond. Since then, Nazanin Knudsen has joined the team. We specialize in reprinting previously published Creative Nonfiction and we have had some absolutely stellar pieces since we launched. Our latest offering is “Divorced” by Amy Barnes. Please click over and read her exciting piece and do think about submitting to us if you have something that meets our guidelines. We are on Twitter and Instagram and listed on Duotrope and Chill Subs. (Pssst - we are looking for a Social Media Manager. Let me know if you’re interested!)
I just finished a book of flash fiction, Home is a Made Up Place, by Ronit Plank and it was fantastic. I’ll be interviewing Ronit about the book in my upcoming column for Reckon Review called “The Nitty Gritty” on March 29. I hope you’ll read it - I’ll remind you. :)
Speaking of books, there’s a new online book club in the works, “Shorter is Better Book Club” that will specialize in chapbooks and novellas.
While you’re waiting for the first meeting, you’ll love reading these excellent flash fictions:
More Monsters Will Not Make Us Safer by Paul Crenshaw in Lightspeed.
Underneath It All by Anu Kandikuppa in Milk Candy Review.
The Things You Remember, July 18, 1993, Fernandina Beach by Mikki Aronoff in Timber.
And I have a tiny essay in Still: The Journal called Moon Sick, which was reprinted from my Substack post in December. Many thanks to the wonderful editors at Still for believing this little piece was worthy of their wonderful journal.
It’s Saturday afternoon now and I’m going out into the backyard to cut off dead banana tree leaves and trim back my HUGE in ground Asparagus setaceus fern. And, of course, check on the Sweet Peas. Have a great weekend, y’all!