With the recent holidays now behind us: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s what is the next big thing on the calendar? I could tell you now, but that would make for the shortest column I’ve ever written. And, if not done within the next few weeks, it will set into motion an unstoppable cataclysmic series of events! Ignore my warning and starting in mid-June, the rest of 2025 will be ruined. Think I’m exaggerating a little? Sadly, not this time, Dear Reader. This time I write from my years of experience.
Could the next big thing be Valentine’s Day? Forgetting this day will certainly not gain you any favor with your loved one. Unfortunately, I have had this experience once or twice in my life. It takes months to recover from such a Neanderthal goof, but recover you can. Forgetting the day will make for a difficult couple of months around the house, but it certainly won’t devastate your entire year.
Could the next big thing be a birthday celebration? Worse than overlooking Valentine’s Day is forgetting the birthday of that special someone in your life. Yours Truly has also made this mistake. Although a much bigger faux pas than forgetting the day of love, it certainly won’t ruin the rest of this year – just as long as you buy that big, expensive make-up gift.
Of all the special events of through out the year, July 4th is possibly one of the hardest to forget. But if you’ve forgotten throughout the day, come nightfall you’ll remember – especially if you have a dog. After the first explosion directly above your house, forgetting Valentine’s Day won’t be the only night you’re kicked out of the bed and told to sleep on the couch. Your huge frightened puppy will be taking your place. And yes, this has also happened to Yours Truly.
Even if your couch is lumpy, and you don’t get any sleep, it’s still just one night – your entire year won’t be ruined. But forgetting the next big thing will.
If you don’t have kids, forgetting Halloween won’t have you sleeping on the couch, but if you live in a subdivision, forgetting about this day isn’t an option. When kids come to your door on Halloween, they want to be greeted with handfuls of candy so avoid handing out apples, oranges, grapes, or running out of candy because doing so will certainly ruin the night for any who come knocking.
Finally, what about Thanksgiving and Christmas? Have I forgotten to buy oil for the turkey fryer? Yes. Have I forgotten to make sure the propane tank is full so we can fry a turkey? Yes, and not just once. Forgotten, until the very last minute, to buy a special gift and Christmas card for my one and only? (I will leave this question unanswered.) But, to this date, even I haven’t forgotten Thanksgiving or Christmas, and to do so would simply be unthinkable. So if none of the above is the answer to what is the next big thing is, what could it be? What will ruin the rest of 2025 if it’s not done within the next few weeks? The answer is one single word.
Lime.
Surprised? Not as surprised as you will be when you walk out to the garden in June to pick that very first juicy tomato of the year only to turn it over and find the entire bottom rotten. As you continue to pick (and then furiously throw away) all the not-so-perfect tomatoes you’ve waited so long for, you will soon realize your plants have black spot, and there’s very little you can do now to correct the situation. See, I told you…the entire year ruined!
The thoughts of enjoying huge BLT’s all summer, fried green tomato sandwiches well into the fall, and homemade salsa all winter have now been tossed over the fence like those rotten tomatoes. The cause of black spot is not having enough lime in the soil to give the tomato plant what it needs to grow healthy. When you see it on the bottom of the fruit, it’s too late. (Don’t care what the Supreme Court says the tomato is a fruit.)
For all you gardeners out there, now is the time to put down and till in dolomitic lime so you’ll have healthy tomatoes this summer. After all…
It’s the next big thing.
