Raise your hand if you liked making mud pies when you were a kid. That was and is me. Gardening is this adult's way of acceptably getting my hands dirty. There is something deep within my soul that calls me to the dirt. So much so, I have to set up my seed planting in February. Although, most advise would tell one to wait just a little longer, this girl goes for it when her heart tells her so. Oh time, you are such a strange, mysterious thing. So what, if the almanac says wait a few more weeks or says your past planting time. Go for it!
Early seeding, last year, blessed me with early tomatoes and wore out oversize plants midseason. I promptly propagated them and had a whole second season tomato crop. I also learned that some tomatoes, San Marzano’s to be specific, liked the second season better than the first. After the first season with these little beauties, I was ready to never plant them again. Then they arrived hardy and happy second season. I will have them in the greenhouse this year. I just won’t be planting them until mid-summer.
What have I started seeding? Cool weather crops - Brussels, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. Tomatoes and peppers too. I am thinking about breaking my edible rule of only growing edible items. Pondering beauty as an important aspect of the over all garden. Perhaps marigolds. They keep away critters that are not desirable in the garden. I am propagating a citronella plant. Lots of pesky critters don’t like its smell. This Northwest Arkansas growing atmosphere continues to expand my plant interests with the way everything seems to grow here. For now, I am just happy to have my hands in the dirt once again.
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