Where does a garden columnist start? There is so much emerging life all around. I think May has been called high spring. It is impossible to keep up. It is remarkable that the weeds have already taken over. They, it seems, failed to get the memo that we had a hard winter.

I would be lost without my young workers. We have spent the week preparing the areas to receive the perennial plugs. These can be field-grown for an indeterminate about of time until needed at a job site.

One day last week, we built a cozy campfire to gather around during lunch. It was completely enjoyable as the day was raw and cloudy.

The event of the day following is to be taken under advisement. It was quite windy. Suddenly, a chair blew into the fire. This chair is owned by everybody — cheap, plastic, stackable and usually white.

It burst into flames in a nano-second. The fire jumped over 10 feet high and emitted ugly black smoke. We scrambled to move the truck and any nearby flammables.

I think we can honestly say it was astonishing. I’ve known that plastics are made from petroleum but I never expected to see something resembling a miniature oil refinery fire.

A valuable lesson was learned by all.

As long as I am issuing words of caution, I would be remiss if I did not mention poison ivy. It is tiny right now, but do not be deceived. One of my customers ended up in the walk-in clinic already.

Do as I say, not as I do. Start out slowly with all those back-breaking tasks, i.e. shoveling, wheelbarrowing, sawing and bending over endlessly. I, however, need to beef-up those chiropractic appointments.

I have a new favorite . . . in the dead of winter, I seeded some flats of Ching Chang bok choy. I neatly separated them into plugs at the beginning of March. I tossed them into the ground outside by the end of March. (There was still snow here and there.) They came right along and were available for picking in just weeks. I sauteed up a few meals and watched them promptly go to seed shortly after. For fun I cut them to the ground and decided to eat them — flowers, stalks and all — chopped into inch-long pieces, drenched in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, I served them raw with some delicious Grey Barn blue cheese and OMG! They were tender, buttery in texture and just wonderful. I am going to seed them every couple of weeks now.

Speaking of planting, I did get my baby onions into open ground this week. I also started them in January in the greenhouse. They look pretty good so far. I noticed SBS has the sets for sale. Now is the time to get them planted.

I am going to be more cautious this year. It froze last mid-May and I lost some peppers and tomatoes.

The situation in Baltimore has placed me firmly in the memory bank!

In May of 1970, I was living in our nation’s capital, working and doing my part in the anti-Viet Nam War demonstrations. I was certainly a peacenik and would never consider any form of violence. I saw plenty of it.

After Nixon began the invasion and daily bombing of Cambodia, the shootings and deaths at Kent State in Ohio took place.

I took part in a huge protest march. The police on horseback rode through the crowds swinging nightsticks at people’s heads. Tear gas was released and general chaos followed.

Later that evening in Dupont Circle, a group of young hooligans, shall we say, came across an unoccupied police car. (The police were patrolling the area with loaded shotguns!)

The young men took to destroying that car while a group of us watched in fear and amazement. They stomped the vehicle to the ground and flattened it as if an actual car crusher did the job.

The point of all this is — Jackson State, Watts, Seattle, Dupont Circle and now Baltimore . . . how sad and stupid.