Seeds

We went on a hike in the woods down the street from our house and encountered four colors of berries, including black, two shades of red, and these crazy purple ones! I picked some, surreptitiously, and plan to grow them somewhere.

Speaking of seeds, our order from Pinetree Seeds came in, and made me tremendously excited for the spring. We are really doing it up this time with raised beds and flowers and all kinds of new vegetables.

I chose the company at random (well, kind of -- they were listed on a hotlist of recommended organic seed companies), but they haven't disappointed -- the order was fast and the people friendly, and the seed packets are really sweet and old-fashioned, with pastel colors and a border that looked as though they were hand-stamped.

Getting happy about the pattern on the seed packets makes me sometimes feel like that old couple, Mr. and Mrs. Spencer, from The Catcher in the Rye, that Holden kind of likes and is kind of disgusted by, because they "got a bang out of things, though--in a half-assed way, of course."

--Camille

Beginning Again, Catching Up, and Seed Ordering

We've been talking about starting a blog as a garden journal and reference tool, but life intrudes. I also worry about style and doing a good job writing the blog, but that's just silly procrastination. I'm just going to plow ahead (ha!).

First, to recap the recent events that led to our having a garden at Lincoln Street:
We bought a house last summer. (We also got married last summer.) We tore out our old garden at Corbin Street a couple months ago. We still haven't buried a can (as we'd planned) in the spot where we got engaged, and our compost tumbler is still over at the old place.

The house at Lincoln Street is a dream, and neither of us have any buyers' remorse. I worry a tiny bit that the backyard doesn't get enough sun, but what can we do now?

We planted 80 or so daffodils and hyacinths and tulip bulbs in the side yard, which will surprise us no doubt next spring. I think it's too late to plant the rest, but maybe I can force blooms this winter.

We planted garlic (45 cloves) sometime late October, using our wonderful and surprisingly powerful rototiller that Adriana and her family bought us. We called it the bucking bronco because it had quite a bit of bounce when encountering rocks! I was surprised it didn't break, and only jammed once. This New England soil is difficult -- poor Puritans, is all I can think when I consider that they didn't have a gas-powered wonder to service them. I would no doubt be hanged as a witch if I traveled in time and showed them what the rototiller can do. (I would probably BE a witch if I could travel in time. So there.)

I seem to remember that the garlic grew some last year once we'd planted it, but that might be because we planted it earlier (?) or maybe we mulched it. We need to mulch it still. There is straw in the garage for that.

I ordered a ton of seeds -- vegetables, flowers, herbs. There's something thrilling and hopeful about poring through the catalog and imagining the wonders the seeds will bring.

David and I are planning on turning the whole front porch into a seed nursery, because we don't have a second bedroom to use anymore, and the walk-in closet is too small (and probably dangerous). The seed growing closet in the basement is too inconvenient to use until we bang out a staircase (someday).

Well, that's about it for now.

--Camille