Judith organizes her seed order and conducts an indoor growing experiment
Greetings fellow gardeners,
It is a windswept morning with a hint of sunshine, and I am still digesting the festivities; I made rather merry over the holiday. As of this morning we are in lockdown again. Lockdown reminds me how important it is to grow my own food and to get my seed order done. The bread and butter pickles that I made this summer were delicious, and I want to make more next summer. I am still not at the level I remember from my childhood. We froze and canned and used everything from our garden.
It has been very difficult to reduce my seed order to a more realistic level. I also must inventory the seeds that I already have! Are the seeds viable? Where did I put all the calendula seeds that I collected? Do I have room to start the seeds that I want to start early? So many questions, but this is the perfect time to answer them. This time between years lets me slow down and think. Munching on leftovers and sipping what is left of the wine, I am able to get my seed order to where I want it. I will call it in around the first week of January. There are still other catalogues to come, so this may not be my only order. I can always order from the missing catalogues online if I get tired of waiting. Personally, I like the catalogues. I like the pictures and the write-ups and all the promises of a stellar harvest. They send me forward with a positive spin.
With the new year nearly upon us, I find myself reviewing my summer season. I really missed doing workshops and giving talks, but 2020 gave me more time for my own garden. I have already been booked for a number of talks for 2021; will I still find time for my garden? I think I will. My garden taught me a lot this year. It was a constant gentle presence, challenging my powers of observation, and my dedication to organic pest and weed control and how to deal with hungry wildlife. I walked a fine, wobbly line between folksy remedies and science and finding that folksy remedies were often rooted in science after all. Overall, I continue to believe in experimentation; you never know unless you try.
And so, I think I shall try a fun little experiment to get me into January.
The bottom of the grocery store lettuce is now placed in a shallow dish of water
I have a fresh head of leaf lettuce from the grocery store and have cut it down to the base. I shall place the base in water and see how much lettuce I get. As well, I shall get a pot and fill it with potting soil and leaf lettuce seeds and see how that does. Which will I prefer.? They will both need to go into the plant compound as the too-many cats will find them very tasty.
Lettuce seeds planted.
I am off to get more wood for the stove as temperature is moving down and the too-many cats are getting cold. Welcome to the New Year everyone!
Judith (Email: lapisdragonarts@gmail.com) All Veggie Bites are available at the SGHS website: (https://sites.google.com/site/sghortsoc/)
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