A Few Seeds

As badly as I want to be planting rows upon rows of berries and fruit, we are not ready for that.  It also isn't the right time of year for some things.  I envision rows of green, baskets brimming, wheelbarrows of compost, the whole thing.

I do not know if we will  ever be in that place, but it is surely not now.  I am thinking this year will be raised beds with tomatoes down the centers, peppers on the ends, greens down the sides.  I also want some herb space beyond my pots.  I want a small patch of French beans and sugar snap peas.  We will try melons.  Pumpkins.  Cucs.  But all on a small scale.

Here in lies the problem.  I always start out thinking small and then end up huge.  Last year the move forced me out of gardening much, but the years past I would say " just  30 tomatoes this year," only to plant 60 or 80.  One year it was 100.  It is a compulsion and a curiosity.  I want to try every variety.  I want the heirlooms.  The strange things. The tried and true.  The new.  I think Jack avoids going to town with me in the spring because he knows there will be stinky tomato plants to ride home with.  I have tried growing seeds a few times.  The last time I grew beautiful plants  that bore no fruit.  I think the potassium was off in my soil.  It also was just too hot.  No one had a great garden that year.  The year before that, the great winds and fires destroyed my greenhouse and most of my plants.

This year, since we will still be using well water and not lake water yet, I am doing small gardening . . . if we can figure out how to build and fill raised beds cheaply.  That doesn't mean I am not messing about with new things though and that means seeds and putting up our greenhouse again.  Last weekend I ordered my seeds from Territorial Seed. Italian sweet peppers that no one ever sells in plant form.  A purple French bean called Velour. Sugarsnax carrots.  Magenta chard.  Super early Beaverlodge tomatoes.    Cherry Buzz tomatoes. There are other tried and true varieties too,  but I am just smitten with all those beautiful pictures of fruit, cut open and dripping, those tantalizing and mysterious names.  I am such a sucker.  At least I just bought samples of those unknown seeds.

Saturday is work day.  We have kept a crazy schedule lately and today is clean house, wash car, cook day.  It is also seed planting day.  Of course much will be sown directly in the ground, but the tomatoes, peppers, and herbs get to be thrust into soil in little peat pots today.  They will hang out under some lights up at the big house for a few weeks and then be moved to our tiny greenhouse.  We will either put a little heater in it, or bring things into the well house on cold nights. Lots of mess, lots of watching temperatures, lots of wonder as shoots pop through soil, lots of promise.

I really doubt if I am finished buying seeds and plants.  I never am.  I always find space to squeeze in one more plant in a hidden corner, stretching that water hose just another foot farther, but today is all about seeds.