Rake and Palette

1. Not yet!!!

   Seeds started now languish from low sun on windowsills and in the sky.  If they do take, they’ll grow long, skinny and weak way too soon to be put out. 
   Exception:  geranium seeds.  They’re slow. You’ll interplant them with veggies to ward off and kill beetles.

2. Read catalogs

   They glow and motivate and work to get you daydreaming and planting.  Paper catalogs are more chock-full of info, like planting zones, pollination, ad infinitum, than the online ones.  Go online to order a copy. There are many; some with too much hype, others limited in scope or just middle retailers.

   Authentic seed growers include Park Seed Co. (my favorite), Burpee, Miller, Jung, R. H. Shumway.  Enjoy; then believe about half the outlandish claims.  Read for what they fail to mention.

3. Avoid heirloom varieties

   Those are types of yore with little resistance to plant diseases and pests that have evolved over the past few decades by destroying crops. To keep these plants healthy requires tons of spraying.

   Hybrids were developed to build in natural resistance to plant stressors like fungus, rust, aridity, insects.  Go a season or two with your hybrids. Then try some of the old varieties.

4. Go outside

   Throw all the organic matter you can on your soil, like leaves, grass, seaweed, manure (any), kitchen waste.  Snow is an excellent slow-release fertilizer.  Then go in, get warm, browse the catalogs and dream of a sun higher in the sky.

Thanks, Chris! I mentioned gardeners’ traits in my Seeds are in post (imagination, faith, patience, diligence, hope…). Chris embodies all these and then some.

What makes your garden grow? Share some of your hints!