Ready, set, go!

Papaver somniferens 'Drama Queen'

Long about now I get really really ready for Spring.  The Vernal Equinox may be March 20, but around these parts, the last frost date is still April 15 or so.  We are teased right now by a "warm" day of 55 degrees, now and then, and a "temperate" night in the high 40's, but beware...we could still get a serious chill like we did two years ago when it was 12 degrees on February 26!  I long to start my seeds for the veg garden, but alas, 90 days in my make shift propagation room produces only leggy weak babies, which are soon outpaced by their siblings planted 30 days later.  I content myself with grooming the long-suffering succulents and baobab trees that lean towards the light in my east-facing windows...

I am, however, enthusiastic about what I learned at the Yard, Garden and Patio show last weekend.  The lecture by Bill Thorness, who has just published The Cool Season Gardener, has enlightened me to the seven season concept.  One can plant something or harvest something, in every one of them.  If I add "harvest" to my outdoor garden activities, I am heartened to the remind myself that I am bundling up to go into the potager right now for mache, red mustard greens, lacinato kale, chioggia beets, collards, chard and parsley!  All is not bleak and wet and dreary...and if I shelter from rain, I can plant early peas now!  Bill has mastered the season extension concept with a plethora of contraptions, from the humble and free to the fancy dancy, from juice jugs to hoop houses.  Yes...I can!

The endless catalogues are seducing me.  How did I ever get on so many mailing lists? (well, chick, that's easy...request a catalogue...check...)  I had to make a huge chart to sort all the varieties, lunar planting dates, harvest dates, and rotation plans.  Now, at least, it's time to make some decisions and order.  Here again, Bill Thorness was very helpful.  The concept of planting a melange of beans, for example, is a brilliant way to have some of all you want to try.  Why wait for an open spot for the mid to late season types when you can plant them all together and harvest as they mature?  I did so well last summer with Kali's "Beaning Room" (three varieties of pole beans), the bean trellis in the potager ("Christmas", "Cranberry"),

"The Beaning Room"

Prolific cranberry beans

                                                                

(...but not the bush beans ("Orca") planted too late and crowded out by something else...)  I can have a grand party with colorful bean arbors...this year I have selected about eight varieties of French filet, pole beans, beans to dry, and bush beans...'Providers', 'Fortex', 'Velour', 'Uncle Willie's', 'Bingo', 'Kentucky Blue' and 'Christmas'. Oh joy... For me, a perfect example of "go with the flow".  I may grow lousy peppers, but beans, I can grow!

Another lovely thought occurs to me...time for planting poppies!  Last year I tossed out some old seeds near the iris stream that had been lanquishing in my seed box.  They rewarded me with a little show to my happy delight.  Now poppies should be an easy thing, that will reseed and reward you with their bright colors with very little effort.  I will plant "Lauren's Purple" this year, perhaps where they'll compliment the blue and purple bearded iris.  "Drama Queen" enthralled me last year in the pot with the variegated horseradish...will it reappear, hopefully with abandon, all around the pot?  Will the thousands of seeds gain purchase?  How about some perennial poppies too?

Suddenly this gray February day is no longer gray.  It is filled with delicious greens, bean architecture and the promise of startling pops of color in a few months.

My sun salutation for the day...sun or no sun.