Well, it’s almost spring and it’s time to start planting those cabbages and broccoli if you haven’t already gotten them started! For any avid gardener, this can be the roughest part of the year. With Spring looming just around the corner, it is hard to resist starting those frost sensitive tomatoes, beans, and other garden delights. Be patient, though, and consider some interesting alternatives to satisfy your itchy green thumb.
About a month ago I decided to look on ebay to see if I couldn’t find a goji berry plant for my home office. I found seller who offered plants of varying growths and decided on one that was three years old. Goji berries are a powerhouse in the whole health food movement currently, but they have been highly valued for their nutritional and anti-oxidant properties for thousands of years. After a month I’ve already got two small berries growing. (I manually pollinated the flowers with my fingertip to see if I could stimulate growth.) The biggest difference I see is just how much the greenery changes the atmosphere in the room. It’s nice to have a plant growing nearby and I like to observe how it slowly changes as it grows, following the light as it crosses the window.
Since we’ve already started the seeds for the cabbage and broccoli, there isn’t much left to do with those plants but wait. For someone with a gardening itch, that just won’t do. Surprisingly enough, I found myself digging up some of the excess bulbs from the flowerbed in the front of the house and relocating them to a spot in the backyard. Sure, it was something to do and the spreading flowers were becoming cramped, but the real reason I did it was to get a little more color into the backyard for Tara. We always get so excited about our garden and the things we will be able to eat freshly picked from the vines, but for the most part we’ve viewed our lawn as a burdensome plot with required maintenance but no real gift of joy. We’re not kids anymore and while our kids do enjoy playing on the grass, the most fun we have always seems to stem from the garden. I figured this year I would try to brighten it up a bit. Me of all people, buying flower bulbs…. who would have thought it would come to this. Yet, there I was after work standing in line at the checkout with bulbs in hand. It wasn’t enough to move some of our existing flowers, no… this year would have to be special!
Tara tried to convince me tonight, after we’d braved the cold rain to get the flowers planted, that it was still technically gardening. It was a hard sell. “Haven’t you ever heard of flower gardening?” she’d asked. The only thing that came to mind were the edible flowers from Willy Wonka. Still, I am sure we will be just as excited to see the new colors as they start to grow and bloom.
How about you, what have you got going on during these cooler months before gardening goes into full swing?
Well, it will be a few more months before we can do outside gardening here but I’ve got my seeds started indoors and I can’t wait for warmer weather but we’re still watching the snow fly. Your garden sounds delightful.