Farmer's Almanac Weather Prediction for Ontario: "Rain, snow."
I should know by now that when I make garden plans it's a bunch of crap that I'll never follow though on. Okay strike that. I'll follow through, times a thousand! The problem is while it's still cold and we're nowhere near garden season I say "This year I'm going to grow these plants and I'm not going to go seed crazy and I'm not going to go overboard."
One week I'm the pinnacle of organization, planning and self-control and the next week I've got seeds germinating everywhere including the bathroom, and lists of plants I am interested in that's a mile long. I don't actually have any seeds growing in the bathroom this year yet, but it has happened.
I know exactly how it happened this year. First I had to start some seeds for the Contest. Watching all those little seedlings come up was exciting. Then I had to buy seed packs as prizes, giving me an excuse to spend some time perusing every seed rack in town. Naturally I bought a few for myself. Then I pulled together a Seed Buying Resource for the site. This gave me ample opportunity to look through the stack of unopened catalogues I had sitting under my desk. The next thing you know I've got a hi-lighter in one hand and a notebook in the other. I'm marking up the catalogues indicating the plants I'm interested in and I'm writing some of the more unusual varieties down in my notebook.
To make matters worse this week is Canada Blooms. My excitement has been building all week. In phone conversation, Beate and I have raved and bragged and exclaimed about all the seeds we're going to buy on Saturday. Wait didn't I just say in my last entry, no more than a few weeks ago that I wasn't going to go seed crazy this year? Then to top it off, last night as I was looking around on Ebay I got the bright idea to just "check and see" what kinds of seeds were available. I started simply with tomatoes and heirloom varieties and the next thing I knew I was looking through a zillion pages of just plain "seeds". I looked at so many photos of plants my head was dizzy. It was 1:30 am and I couldn't go to bed because I was waiting on an auction that was closing in 20 minutes and I had already bought 2 packs of 200 seeds each. If that isn't enough of a joke I nearly bought a pack of 1000 foxglove seeds just because it was so cheap. I really do not need even one foxglove seed and I was ready to buy 1000.
The first 200 pack I bought was of lemon tobacco (Nicotiana langsdorfii), an annual I've been coveting for a while now. Not a frivolous purchase since I did plan on getting at least one of this plant this year if I could find it. However, I wasn't planning on growing 200 of this plant. I suppose it will leave me with some seeds to give away as gifts. Then because I had made one purchase I figured I might as well make another purchase from the same dealer and get my money's worth on shipping. So I then proceeded to buy a 200 pack of cactus and succulent seeds even though I already have an unopened packet of cactus and succulent seeds sitting in my seed box. It was so cheap I just couldn't resist. And again I thought that I could give some away because I know lots of people who would like some seeds so no problem.
And finally I was tempted further by Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium) seeds and I bought a 25 pack of that too.
On Sunday I started a Seed Exchange on Nervousness.org so in a month or so I'll be getting a stack of new seeds in my mailbox. Needless to say in a month or so I'll be posting a whole lot of seeds for trade or giveaway on the forums. I'll also be posting some tomato seedlings for giveaway since contest #3 has left me with eight Purple Prince seedlings that I can't bring myself to discard despite the fact that I only need one plant.
Last Saturday was a nice, warm day. It actually cycled through a variety of weather conditions, but the early afternoon itself was warm and sunny. I went out on the deck determined to do a bit of a cleanup and to check on the status of the perennial herbs in the cedar planter boxes. I was very happy to discover that the bee balm (monarda) had definitely spread and looked like it was going to be big this year. Same for the anise-hyssop. I could also see that thyme, sage, lemon balm, mint and chives had survived. Looking in various smaller boxes I also found that the garlic was sprouting and viola seedlings had self-seeded and were coming up.
Canada Blooms (Canada's largest garden show) is officially starting today in Toronto. Beate and I will be attending this Saturday evening so if you see us say hi. I also plan to attend tonight (Wed).
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