I was inspired to write this post, the third in my “Spring Thinking” series this month, in celebration of all of my gardening influences over the years. This being Sunday, is my most favorite day to garden! But when the snow is still on the ground of this northern town you will find me starting my plants inside while I listen to 630 Ched’s garden show, 9am-11am. I know, I know, I am the ultimate plant geek…thats totally okay by me, think what you will!
Before I found the garden show but during the time my kids were growing up, I would squeeze every moment outside of my 9-5 job and off time that didn’t involve hockey with starting and transplanting seeds in early spring. My Auntie Jody; not her real name and actually not even my Aunt lol, taught me how to start pansies and petunia’s. I was such a good student…shortly thereafter I had seeded and grown HUNDREDS of them!! And that is no fish story either! I had petunias coming out the wazoo!! Smug was I until I had to deadhead the buggers. Ugh!
Waaaayyyy back though as a little girl, I recall being commissioned by my Dad to water spruce tree seedlings in our garden in the city where I grew up, for 5 cents per tree. My parents, being from a farming background, could grow anything… so maybe I have it in my jeans, I mean genes. Just the other day hubby and I popped over to Dads to move the iconic console stereo (see post ‘Moved by Music’) so he could set up tables for his geraniums and begonias. I am sooo envious as I still have not mastered wintering geraniums! If I live to be 90 I hope I will experience geranium success as my Dad has.
I often hear ‘why would you waste so much time starting plants when you can buy them so cheap’? Well, my answer is simply…have you been to our local greenhouse, Birch Meadows??? Jeeeeze Louise! I CANNOT and WILL NOT disclose how much heroshie (money in Ukrainian or Polish, I’m not sure which) I drop there each year. Thank you Jesus for such an understanding husband! But I make a mean cookie so maybe that’s the tradeoff. If it weren’t for my little sideline seed starting we would have been in the poor house many, many years ago! So my angle is…grow what you can…buy from the expert what you can’t grow and revel in a yard FULL of beauty and yumminess no matter what size your ‘garden’ is!!
Then there’s the eternal optimist in each of us gardeners that inspires me as I pick over listings in the seed catalogue…envision the new additions to my flower beds/garden and contemplate Marty McFly experiments, just for the fun of it all! Seeds of hope, seeds of change, seeds of opportunity, seeds of diversity…’go on and throw some seeds of your own’ (see post, Seeds I’ve Sown).
Cheers to all who have inspired the gardener within me, forever will you hold a special place in my heart and green thumb!