Two weeks ago, I posted about the garden plan spreadsheet that I started. I now have many, but not all, of my seeds logged in. I also thought that I had purchased and traded for all the seeds that were needed for my gardens for the year. Little did I know that another seed catalog was on its way. I completely forgot that I had ordered it. This catalog is especially dangerous because it contains a lot of something that every gardener needs but not everyone welcomes:
Most seed catalogs categorize their seed and plants. There is likely one half of a page for asparagus and six or more pages for tomatoes. A short blurb is somewhere on the first page of the category that gives a bit more information as to how the seeds should be planted, some general facts about the category and how many seeds are generally in a packet. The description is just a start. Enough to get you interested in trying out something from that category. Other areas of the catalogs may contain charts that help with purchasing, along with specialized tiny icons that you can 'see at a glance' how, when and what. For example, icons that represent sun or shade, soil type, organic and heirloom, fragrance, culinary, medicinal and poisonous. All very helpful but nothing that teaches me about growing.
I like to give credit where it is due and so I do name the companies that I purchase from. The catalog that I received was from Johnny's Selected Seeds, a company out of Maine in the USA. They are 100% employee owned. I like those kinds of companies. That means that everyone, in some way, is contributing to the success of the company and working to meet its goals. It also means that more people have input into how a company does its business.
Somewhere I have their catalogs from many years back. They were a lot smaller then - in terms of pages and in length and width. However, one thing has remained the same; the charts and the quality of information. Yes, they have the tiny icons (but so many more), and no, they are not all heirloom. They have been in business since 1973 and their catalogs read like a Whole Earth Catalog - if you remember those - every page has loads of information. Once I open it, it's hard to put it down and now I have even more information that I could put into my spreadsheet. This catalog even makes the bedside table, along with my glass of water and my reading glasses. And, if that is not enough, there is still more on their website.
Great catalog and so much to read through that I can hardly wait to put it all in play and that brings me to the second most important thing that a gardener must have:
In general, I'm a patient person. To a point. In setting up my garden plan and my gardening spreadsheet, I logged in a lot of information. Once completed, I have a lot of waiting to do. I have to wait to start some seeds, wait to see if they germinate, wait to see if they dampen off or not, wait to place them in pots or the garden beds, then of course, wait to let them grow. I want the snow to leave. I want the ground to be warm and the nights too. I want to be able to spend time in the greenhouse and I want to test out all the 'new' varieties of seeds. But alas, I must be patient.
This is when cabin fever kicks in. So the best thing is to research and read my catalogs, play with my spreadsheet and rearrange my garden plans. This does help to kill time and helps me to decide when to start the seeds and when I can reasonably expect the fruit to be ready to harvest. For instance, after reading through a part of the catalogs and after I logged in the number of weeks before the last frost date, I found that I really needed to get going on starting a few of the flower and vegetable seeds.
Celery Starts 2018
One in particular was celery. From the spreadsheet I learned that I needed to start the tiny seeds some 10 to 12 weeks before planting outside and that soaking the seeds was the best way to get them to germinate. I also learned that it can take up to 3 weeks for the first seedlings to appear after planting. Since the last frost date around here is May 15, I was very close to already getting behind on my gardens. Not a place I like to be.
I also learned that said celery seeds would need to be kept moist - not wet - or they would cease to grow. Hmmmmmm. How to do this when I had a 4-day trip coming up. How to keep the soil moist when the winter air inside is so dry. But I soaked them, then planted them, then covered them with a dome, then misted them every morning and every evening until I went on my trip. When I came back the soil mix was still moist, but nothing had popped up yet. The next day, tiny greenish hairs started protruding from the soil and by the next day, there were leaves. Germination was just short of two weeks.
Now, once the garden gets rolling and summer is ready to go into high swing, there are so many things other than gardening to do and so many places other than the garden to go. Some of the garden will already be producing. Peas, lettuce, early broccoli, some flowers, fruits like strawberries and rhubarb will be ready to be harvested. This is where the going starts to get really tough as harvesting and prepping foods for storage is the bear in the berry patch - it's not easy to plan or to keep up and that bear makes me want to exit to do other more fun things. This then requires, what is probably the most important thing in your garden basket:
Without it, all your hard work, all those hours and days become a huge waste of precious time. When my high school graduating class marched up to accept our diplomas from, our very wise history teacher (who was also our school administrator), he gave us each a scroll that contained our diploma and the gift from him that he thought we needed the most. Since he had been at our school since the time we entered first grade, he knew us all very well.
When I opened my scroll, there was a slip of paper in it with just one word. Perseverance. It's what I needed most then and it's what I still need the most now and my gardening is no exception.
So here's to Knowledge - the basic foundation of our gardens. To Patience, something that depends on an elusive idea - that of Time itself and lastly to Perseverance, the stabilizer that rewards our efforts. I hope that in your gardening adventures, you have all three at your side. I hope I do also.
Note - All the photos that are on this post were taken by me - Lily Mars. They may appear also on my blogs and websites in addition to this post.
Thank You for Reading
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