Sowing The Seeds Of (Garden) Love

Every year around this time, a certain song plays in my mind, and dances around over and over and over again.  Naturally, it brings back such fond memories of my youth, but it also swirls along with springtime, all while I’m sowing the seeds……

You know the song.  A classic Tears For Fears melody that I happily sing along to as I’m literally sowing the seeds.  And too, a song that I’m not in a hurry to push out of my mind; I’m happy it’s there.  Just as I’m delighted to be welcoming the beginning of spring and laboring the birth of my garden.

I’ve tamed my garden down a little bit this year.  I decided to stick with what has worked for me in the past.  I’m not branching out, if you will, on new vegetable territory.  No corn stalks for me this year.  I’m sticking with the plentiful harvest and what has worked best for my garden in the past.

Tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, and sugar snap peas, oh my!  Toss in some left over watermelon seeds and add some hand-me-down cantaloupe seeds, and I’ve got myself a garden.  Mixing in some bone meal with the potting soil, and I have a concoction where these seeds can germinate.

Weather-wise, this past winter was a blessing here in Dutchess County, New York.  I can count on one hand the amount of blistery cold days we had, and as far as snow fall is concerned, we received very little.  That being said, when the day came to sow the seeds, I was able to head out to my garden bench and plant away.  Sowing on my kitchen floor was so last year!  (And the year before.  And the year before that.)  Bottom line, it was heavenly to be sowing outside, and exactly how it was supposed to be.

However, I am in the northeast, and we’re not without another frost.  So, every southern facing window we have in our home – which is all windows on the front of our house – are occupied by plants.  We have to side step in some places, and the kids are now awakened by the sound of my squirt bottle watering the crops.  They accept this sound now, but I shutter to think the havoc this will create when they are teenagers.

But for now, I baby the crops.  I keep a close eye and squirt aplenty a couple times a day.  All while counting down until the beginning of May, when these seeds that I have sown can be transplanted into the garden that I have built for them to flourish and produce.

Gardens truly are a labor of love, and the yield they produce is profound.  Time well spent, and a crop that can provide flavor year around.

If you haven’t already done so, it’s time to sow the seeds of your garden love.