Bring on May flowers!

For those of us who crave continuity in a chaotic, even Comey-otic time, it seems fitting that April -- the month that began with our wild launch party for Bainbridge Island's Jonathan Evison and his critically acclaimed new Bainbridge Island novel Lawn Boy -- should smoothly segue into May. That's when our books on gardening will be featured at a 15% discount. 

May is also the month of Mother's Day, and it also seems fitting to point out that women are still reading circles around men, according to a number of studies conducted over the last decade. It's a divide that gets more pronounced when it comes to fiction vs. nonfiction, e-books vs. print books, and older women vs. younger women. (Google the 2012 reading survey conducted by the National Endowment for the Arts for the most interesting nuggets.)  So the gift of words between covers still seems like a safe bet on that special day. 

That brings us back to gardening, and Lawn Boy, which among many other virtues, embodies a genuine love of bending one's back and getting one's hands dirty. (Evison has lived the life he writes, just recently posting a Facebook picture of his lawn-maintenance arsenal as he attacked his yard upon returning home from his Lawn Boy book tour. He refers to LAWN BOY, without irony, as The Great American Landscaping Novel.)

Here, Lawn Boy's hero, Mike Munoz, describes the simple happiness of diagnosing a problem Bainbridge Island property:  

"The lawn needs some work. The edges are rough and you've got a dandelion problem. The reason it's bald under that walnut tree isn't because of the shade, it's the high acid content of the soil. I'm betting some fescue would take root there. Four bucks at Bay Hay and Feed. Done and doner. And yeah, if you lose a few of those alders, you might lighten up the place. That Japanese maple would do better with more light. I'd also square up that laurel and deadhead those rhodies."

If that paragraph makes you want to pull out the trowel and wheelbarrow and floppy sunhat on a warm day like the kind we seem to be having a bit more frequently these past few weeks, well, we salute you. And we are happy to feed your need as you sort through your packets of seeds and reach for the first of the weeds.

~ Jim