Chicago is in midst of a deliciously warm Spring, and I find it almost unbearable to have to hold on to my seed packets and not plunge all their contents into the thawing earth. Oh, the cursed phrase "after all danger of frost is past"! During cold, wet Springs, it is easy to defer the seeds and transplants, one feels so protective after a winter of careful planning. But this warm weather is bewitching...it felt like tomato and pepper season on Friday. How could there be any danger of frost when I can garden barefoot?I have three packets of nasturtiums this year, a "jewel mix" from Pinetree and two climbing types (a home-saved "moonlight" and Renee's Garden "Spitfire"). I am tempted to select just a few from each pack and press my luck, or start some early indoors, but I will wait. I have too many garden chores ahead of me in these coming weeks to add another set of seedlings to fret over. To everything, there is a season, and for nasturtiums, it will be May.
Today I am resowing my sorrel, which did not come up, either in the cold frame or in the unprotected ground. It counts as my first failure of 2010, along with watercress (became leggy and died within a week) and Passiflora foetida (nary a seed germinated). On a more successful note, my first sowing of Cupani's Orginal sweet peas is already bursting out of the ground among the the asparagus spears. Today I am starting more sweet peas, including my windowbox mix. I will also sprinkle nigella and poppies in my front bed, and add borage and seasoning celery to my herb garden. Hopefully all this activity will slake my seed-lust, if only for a little while.
"I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds.
You're stronger than me. I was out there this morning putting out all my root veggie seeds. I figure at worst it will get cold and the seeds will just stay dormant.
ReplyDeleteOh, Xan, I am not strong....I've had carrots out for 2 weeks....just starting to come up!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to wait a couple more weeks to start mine too. I got to many "fancy" seeds this year that need the seed starting "soil" that I don't want to waste it on a seed like Nasturtium that does so well in the ground.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you and Xan are both way ahead of me. Those 80 degree days really messed with my seed starting clock.
You should come visit us in our greenhouse.....we could definitely help you get rid of that "need for seed" :)
ReplyDeleteHave fun in the garden this spring!