A Sight For Sore Eyes!

I was in Lowes the other day to pick up something totally unrelated to gardening and saw this!

A seed display!  What a sight for sore eyes in the middle of frigid winter.  I love browsing through all of the seed packets and looking at the pictures on them.  I do a little happy dance because it means that the count down to spring has begun.  Although I've been browsing at seed catalogs for a few weeks now, when the gardening and outdoor displays start popping up in the all the stores I literally jump for joy!  I'm sure my fellow shoppers thought I was nuts when I just stood at this display and stared at it glary eyed dreaming of spring.  Although I always hate it when the stores put out Christmas stuff too early, I never get upset when gardening items start showing up in January.

There was also a beautiful table of orchids.

I really should have bought one because the price was right, but I didn't because I wasn't sure if Lowes-quality orchids would really last. 

Well I've better in gear with my spring planting plan.... I keep saying that but I just haven't had the time.  Instead I'm still after comfort food....  The other day I made a banana cake with cream cheese frosting that Andy loved!  I have to share that recipe with you.

A Sowing Frenzy

"The mere fact that you get a lot of seeds in a packet doesn't mean you have to plant all of them." - Henry Mitchell

Boy do I ever need to heed Henry Mitchell's this advice. If you've been reading this blog, you know that I'm a new gardener and have sowed seeds for the first time this year. I always love a challenge, and for me getting a seed to turn into a healthy plant is a good challenge.



My first time sowing back in March was full of promise... then anxiety... then annoyance... and finally (in some instances) jubuliance! Everything was a learning experience for this virgin seed sower. For example, I wish someone had told me that it was normal for the seed leaves to turn yellow and fall off when the true leaves show up (jeez that scared me as I thought all my seedlings were dying!).



There was also much worry as I tried to gage just how much water the seedlings needed, how to avoid dampening off, when to transplant, and when to harden off. My head was spinning. I was actually losing sleep over this as I tossed and turned at night.



I even had a recurring nightmare where all the seedlings died and I went to nursery to buy plants to replace them, but it was too late and they were all out! Imagine! How awful!

My anxiety finally turned into annoyance with the peas and with the tray of seedlings I fell on top of... *sigh*

Anyway, since I'm a glutton for punishment and figure I still have lots to learn (and the best way to learn is by doing), I decided to sow more seeds last night.

"The things we have to learn before we do them, we learn by doing them." - Aristole

I'm finding that sowing can be hard work! Especially when you don't know what you are doing. But thankfully, I don't have sow dressed like this....



I'm still amazed at how mobile woman were back then dressed in all those clothes.

The modern woman owes alot to the confident women who were brave enough to go against society's norm and get practical.

Bravo I say to them!

So, as I sit at the little make shift potting bench in our garage I can pay homage to the woman gardeners who came before me. For this much is true...

"Only God can make a tree, but I'm in charge of seeds and weeds!" -Author Unknown

In closing, in case you are wondering, here's what I sowed (I sowed lots extra for some friends as well as to cover me in case there are any casualties).

- 8 cells of zucchini squash (Cashflow, Johnny Seeds) - Plant 4 give 4 away.
- 8 cells of summer squash (Zephyr, Johnny Seeds) - Plant 4 give 4 away.
- 4 cells of Butternut squash (Waltham, Johnny Seeds) - Plant 2 give 2 away.
- 16 cells of cucumbers (Olympian, Johnny Seeds) - Plant 8 give 8 away.
- 16 cells of Green Beans (Blue Lake Bush, Livingston Seeds) - Plant 8 give 8 away.
- 8 cells of marigold (Burpee's mixed)
- 4 cells of marigold (Queen Sophia, Burpees

And if that's not enough to feed my sowing frenzy I'm going to direct sow some other annuals as well as caladium - maybe next week. Ambitous I know.... that'll teach me!