February 28, 2010

Sadly, a week of abs workouts has not given us six-packs of steel. We still do not look like that man. But then, it’d be a little worrying if I did!
This week’s card is the Nine of Spades: Garden. “Garden? But it’s practically still winter!” True—but there’s still some stuff to do! It’s a little early to start seeds, but we can make a plan for starting the seeds we bought. It’s ridiculously late to plant bulbs, but we can at least get those tulips into a cool, dry place for next year and maybe start forcing the paperwhites (also much, much too late!).

In our garden, we’ll be growing Hutterite Soup bush beans, Early Russian cucumbers, Rosa Bianca eggplants, Yellow Wonder wild strawberries, Rocky Top mixed lettuce, Dwarf Siberian kale, Far North melon, Bloomsdale Long Standing spinach, Bush buttercup squash, Genovese basil, Polka Dot Mix bachelor’s buttons, Jet Black/Nigra hollyhocks, Late Spencer Choice mixed sweet peas, shade-loving mixed flowers, and “your grandmother’s flower garden” mixed flowers. All but the last two came from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

We chose our seeds for compactness—hence bush beans, bush squash (it’s usually a rampant vine!) and dwarf kale—hardiness—the spinach is unusually tolerant of heat, the melon and cucumber of cold, and so forth—and appeal—the flowers are mostly sweet-smelling flowers that last well in vases, the vegetables are all things we eat constantly. Strawberries are known to be quite hard to start, but sweet peas are very easy. Anyway, we’re very excited! Since the cards demand it, this week we’ll do research on the correct time and manner to plant our various seeds, and perhaps buy, beg, borrow, steal or scavenge some equipment (DIY coldframe, anyone?). Stay tuned, I’ll let you know what I discover!