Jumping into spring with both feet
I just couldn’t wait. Despite advising customers against doing the exact same thing, I bought garden seeds. And flower seeds. And a few potted plants. And then I went a step further and bought potting soil and a few big pots and planted them. There were a few days of nice temperatures and semi-warm breezes, and I just couldn’t help myself.
Peas, turnips, potatoes, green beans and onions were all planted in my kitchen window in containers that I can move to the porch when it’s warm enough. I planted asparagus and rhubarb in big tubs beside my door. The soil was warm and damp and smelled like, well, dirt. It was heavenly to have my fingers in the soil, poking holes and dropping seeds.
I watered them daily and sang to them in the mornings. My mom always used to talk to her garden and sing to her houseplants, and she had one of the greenest thumbs I’ve ever seen.
It has been about 10 days, and everything has begun to sprout. The green beans are tall, spindly things that appear as if they could blow over at the slightest breeze. The peas are climbing the curtains. The onions are two inches tall – no more than a bite – and I can hardly wait to eat them.
The eyes on the potatoes are like periscopes jutting up out of the blackness of the soil. The rhubarb and asparagus have taken hold and are starting to grow.
They are bright, green spots of spring in a winter that just won’t die.
The warm temps and sunny days disappeared again and were replaced by the two inches of snow on my car and yard that I awoke to Monday. My sidewalk needed swept, and I was grateful for the split firewood that was stacked beside the stove. I should have expected it, as we always seem to get snow at Easter.
But I caught the spring fever that working with seeds and seeing peeps brings out in many people, and I admit that I may have jumped the gun a little.
Wait a minute. Did I say peeps? Maybe new chickens are a good plan. They’d have to stay in the house for a few weeks until they are old enough to stay in the chicken coop and be warm. I’d have to watch the cats around them, but I’ve done that many times before. I bet that I could get them to grow nice and healthy, less spindly than my green beans. The thought of roasted asparagus and fresh eggs is enough to make me seriously consider it.
And if I’m lucky, the peeps might even chirp along when I sing to them. The peas are pretty silent.
Laura Zoeller can be reached at zoeller5@verizon.net.