Saturday, August 11, 2007

City of Sleep

Nothing in Pittsburgh opens early. I cannot get over this. I come from a place where people, like my grandmother, eat dinner at 4 and then go to bed by 6pm. If you don't get a nice early start on your day, you might as well not even bother getting up because it will be too late.

I was shocked to discover I couldn't get my face waxed, buy lunch meat, or go to the garden center until 10am. I was at the post office by 830, dropped off our recyclables by 9 and had to settle for some Home Depot supplies because I wasn't about to make another trip out into the wild.

My goal had been to buy garden fencing, a rake, the black carpety weed blocker, and some late season seeds like cilantro, spinach, and lavender cuttings. I spent the last few days in between rainstorms hacking away the wilderness in the back yard. I have an 8' by 2' space hacked and raked with a walkway all around. It kills me that I could only get started in late summer and have to wait 6 months to plant anything. When I finally discovered some things I could plant, I had to wait even longer because the city is still sleeping.

Maybe everyone is resting up for the Steelers/Packers game later? Perhaps Pittsburghers plan ahead and buy supplies Friday nights? Maybe this is a message that I myself should learn to sleep later and only start my weekends around noon.

2 comments:

Jane said...

Heavens, no! You would miss seeing your city as few people do in the early morning before crowds are about. Wait to shop, but get up early nonetheless.

Blondie said...

You could also plant some herbs that are more perennial - like chives, lemon balm, oregano, mint, terragon, etc. They'll get established before your first freeze most likely, then pop back up in the spring again.

Just watch out, mint, oregano and terragon can spread out and get big when you're not looking. Just give them haircuts often.

Don't start these from seed though (takes too long), look for small potted plants.