Mail Box

The thermometer says 10 degrees below zero and the wind is howling like a pack of wolves as it drives the wind chill to minus 30.  According to the weather man, by morning it will be snowing as well but tonight I am warm, huddled in my chair, under a quilt and a rather large dog and digging through a box of tiny miracles the UPS man brought me.

 Yes, the garden seeds have arrived.

It might not look like planting time outside but believe me, it is nearly time to start my tomato plants. Now, if you remember a post I wrote last spring titled ‘It’s a Tomato Jungle’ you might also remember that I have a slight ‘problem’ when it comes to tomatoes.  In fact I will admit I have several problems when it comes to tomatoes.  But do not fear, for this year I have vowed to break my addiction to tomato seedlings in the dead of winter.

This year I will go cold turkey.

This year I will wait until February 15th before planting the first seed.

And this year, I promise, I will only plant as many tomatoes as I have room for in the garden.

I have also pledged that if, by chance, a few ‘extra’ seeds dare to sprout in my presence I will be heart-less, cold-blooded and cruel. I will rip their frail little roots from their cozy potting soil homes and, ignoring their screams of protest, I will cast them off, not even entertaining the thought of tucking them into another pot of their very own.  No, I will not do it!!!

I will be strong this year and I will show no mercy.  My potting bench will be a veritable House of Horrors for the weak, spindly plants which fail to thrive.  They will be tossed to the top of the compost heap without a second thought to make room for the large, beefy plants with stems like tree trunks and leaves the size of my hand.

This year I will garden like a professional – not the lily-livered plant lover that I have always been!

And because of this new attitude my garden will glow with health.  All who walk the grounds will move slowly,  heads bowed in silent reverence, their lips trembling as they fight back tears of pure rapture at the beauty laid out before them.  Tomato plants will stand tall, stretching for the heavens like Jack’s magical bean stalk.  Blossom end rot will not dare to rear its ugly head! Perfect straight rows of beans, peppers, beets, lettuce and corn will be heavy with a harvest beyond compare.  Squash, pumpkins and gourd vines will sprawl in their designated areas, content with the patch of ground I have staked out for them.  And they will produce thousands of orange, tan and white globes – each one perfectly round and roughly the size of  Volkswagens.   

And the people will come.  They will stop before my Farmers Market stand, riveted by the wonders before them.  Unable to stop themselves they will drop to their knees on the cold, hard pavement as if it were the shrine of the Holy Grail instead of a humble vegetable stand.

Yes, I can see it in my mind. The heaven’s will part and golden rays of sunshine will flow down upon the garden’s gentle slopes. Butterflies and bees will dance above the blossoms and all God’s creatures will gaze in awe from a distance, unwilling to enter this garden of Eden less they mar its beauty.  Abundant rain and humus rich loamy soil will nurture the vibrant green plants and all will be right in the world…

As I breath in the promise of a new garden packaged neatly in the plain brown cardboard box before me, a sigh escapes my lips. The dog snuggled at my feet, looks up.  His chocolate-brown eyes brimming with loving adoration for me – his master.  As our eyes lock, for a brief instant, the pathway is open – his gaze reaches to the very core of my soul and he knows the depths of my desire.  As countless dogs before him he sees my dreams laid bare and he knows the truth…

Then with one furry eyebrow cocked he snorts in disdain, as if to say,

 “Yeah, right! That ain’t gonna happen!”

He rolls his eyes.  His head drops to the quilt.  He stretches out, taking more than his share of the chair and quilt and with a final yawn his eyes close in sleep.

Damn dog! 

He knows me too well.

 

Hope he enjoys sleeping on the porch tonight!

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It’s a Tomato Jungle

Every year I do it.

You would think that after 5, 10 or even 20 years I would learn.

But no – I never will.  

At least, now I can admit it – this major flaw in my character.

I have no patience – especially when it comes to certain things.

It starts in January.   There could be a major ice storm wiping out power lines in a 3 state area, snow could be stacked 7 feet deep on the driveway, and the blizzard of the century could be howling outside the front door but all it takes is one garden catalog in the mailbox to push me over the edge.  I have to do it.  I can’t stop myself no matter how hard I try. 

I have to plant tomato seeds.

Maybe it’s the smell of fresh potting soil  or the fear that for the first time since the dawn of mankind, spring will come to South Dakota in February and I won’t be ready.   OK – I know that this will never happen but I am an old Boy Scout leader and I must be prepared at all times – I took the oath!!!

There is some warped sense of timing buried deep in my psyche – a biological clock with a wild, twisted spring that makes me start my tomato seeds way too early and the saddest part is – I do it every year.

By early February they’re in the soil and by the end of March they look like this.

 

I call it the tomato jungle.

And that’s not all – there is another problem.  Every year I tell myself I will only plant 12 tomatoes of a couple of varieties – which I do.  But that’s just the beginning, if I only plant 12 seeds and half of them don’t sprout I won’t have enough – right?  So I decide to plant 2 seeds in each cell. 

You do it too – come on – admit it. 

We’ve all read the books and the seed packages and in our minds we calculate the germination rates and the odds of survival.  After all, these are delicate living organiziums  – there’s no way they will all survive – not in a cold house with zero humidity and next to frosty window panes that barely let in any sun.  And then there’s the harsh reality of moving them outside where animals will eat some and step on others, hail stones will fall and late freezes will kill and then, if your like me, you have a husband who gets overzealous with the lawn mower and heavy equipment. 

We also have to figure in the age of the seed because we know for a fact that we have had this one particular package of tomato seeds for over 5 years.  Remember?   It was way cheaper to buy in bulk.  It’s a fact – seeds get old and every thing I have ever read says that when seeds get old they don’t germinate – it’s the law of nature and more importantly, it’s in black and white for pity sake – it must be true!   We know we are bound to lose more plants so just to be on the safe side, we decide to plant 3 seeds per cell. 

But for some unknown reason germination has never been a problem when it comes to tomato seeds.  Perhaps that ‘plant by’ date on the package is just a marketing plot to make us buy new seed every year? 

I wonder…

  Two years ago I planted tomato seeds that were 17 years old.  I found them in the bottom of a box of garden stuff.  The package was old enough to be sold on Ebay as an antique.  It had gotten wet, torn and was so filthy I could barely read what kind of seeds they were.  Some of them had slipped through the tattered package and drifted around the bottom of the box for several years.  They had been frozen, overheated and probably exposed to harsh chemicals so I knew they wouldn’t grow but I planted them anyway.  It was a miracle…  those little seeds were just waiting to touch real soil and once they did – they grew!  I would bet I had 99% germination from those hardy little buggers.  Of course – thinking that none would grow –  I had planted all of them so we were blessed with 86 tomato plants.  We didn’t need 86 tomato plants but I had to keep them – these spunky little plants had waited 17 years for their one chance to grow and I just didn’t have the heart to pull them out by their tiny little roots.  I couldn’t let them die a slow painful death of dehydration – could you? 

 I didn’t think so.   So I transplanted them all. 

And in March I transplanted them again… 

 And they grew into a Jungle on the living room floor….

And when spring finally came (around mid June) I planted them outside…

And we did get a few tomatoes.

 

I must admit, this picture was taken after we had given away or sold at least half of them.  After awhile, the neighbors and relatives quit stopping and people would turn the other way when I met them on the street.  It was worse than a plague of zucchini.  We had tomatoes in the corner of the living room for almost two months and as unbelievable as it seems, almost every one of them ripened – maybe because of the heated floor.  I canned tomatoes, I made spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, froze them, dried them.    It was a scary tomato year.

And did I learn from this year of tomato gluttony? 

You be the judge – here’s a picture of the living room floor today.

 

138 tomato plants. 

I’m so ashamed.

Is there a support group for this?

 

 

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Lessons Learned from a Garden

I’ve started my gardening for the year!!!

I’ve planted seeds for tomatoes, peppers, egg plants, okra and a mixture of flowers.  They are sitting on our heated floor in the living room. 

Playing in the potting soil made me think about the many things I have learned from my garden.  Here’s a short list of the top 10.

1.  Rain is a reason to celebrate – dance in it every chance you get.

2.  Remain flexible through-out your life.  Being stiff and rigid can cause you to break in a storm.

3.  No matter how hard the season has been – do your best to look good.

4.  Accept help.  Sometimes it is better to ‘Round up’ your problems then to continue fighting a losing battle.

5.  Have deep roots.  You can always come back from your roots – I learned this one from creeping jenny.

6.  It doesn’t matter how many thorns you have – if you put on a good show people will still love you.

7.  Some of the things that bug you the most may just turn out to be your best friends.

8.  Storms and tough times make you stronger.

9.  Even a day filled with crap can be a blessing.

And finally,

10.  I don’t care how old you are – spraying someone with the garden hose is always funny and good for your soul.

Gardening can teach you many things.  It will thrill you one day and drive you to drink the next but through it all it will make you a better person and reward you with riches beyond belief (mostly in the form of zucchini).  Share these blessings and pass on the joy to the next generation.

Go forth and Garden.

Spring is just around the corner!!!

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Garden Time?

There were 6 seed catalogs in the mail yesterday – can you believe it?  6 of them!!!  And each one chock full of every new weird and wonderful garden seed you can imagine.  There are peppers every color of the rainbow, gourds that look like snakes and my all time favorite – pumpkins the size of Volkswagens!  And Sweet Corn – did I mention I love Sweet Corn?  And tomatoes, and peas, and squash, and lettuce, and cucumbers, and beets, and turnips, and onions, and beans, and eggplant, and okra which I don’t know how to cook but I grow anyway just because of the beautiful flowers.  I love seed catalogs – know why?

Is it because I love to garden?  No.

Is it because I love the smell of black dirt in the morning?  No.

Is it because this year I know my garden will look like the International Peace Gardens and weeds will not dare to sprout beneath my feet? 

 No.  I’m pretty sure that won’t happen.

Is it because there were 6 seed catalogs and no bills  in the mailbox so I’m secretly wondering if we got someone elses mail instead of our own? 

No, No, NO!!!  It’s because…  It has to be…  It must be my favorite time of year – its spring!!!

Time to dust off and crank up the Troy Built Workhorse rototiller.  Time to clean all the stuff out of the garden shed and lay down the soaker hoses.  Time to stop at every greenhouse at every department store I see.  Time for green grass and tiny spring flowers and flowering bulbs bursting forth from the rich, black soil of the front flowerbed.  Time for baby skunks to be born under the porch step (hey, it happens) and butterflies to flutter passed the windows.  Time for baby calves to fill the pastures and frolic in the wildflowers.

Spring has sprung, the grass is riz – I wonder where the birdies is???

How come I didn’t see it coming.  Spring really snuck up on me this year.  Ha!  I have been busy what with work and all.  Why, it seems like just last week it was Christmas but the seed catalogs are here and that’s enough proof for me.  You know how fast time flies.  You turn around and the whole year has zipped past.  Yep, I’m sure that’s what happened.  I just wasn’t paying attention.  Oh, I hear your sighs of doubt – clear out here in SD I hear them.  You don’t believe in the power of the seed catalog to predict the coming of spring. 

Oh yee of little faith.

No really, it must be.  Seed companies wouldn’t lie, not to me. I’m one of their best customers.  They’ve been in business for hundreds of years – they know things that your every day ‘hoe-hum’ gardener doesn’t.   They are the holy grail of the soil and compost world.  They wouldn’t lead me on by sending me glossy catalogs filled with full-color, close up shots of flowers that are so beautiful you can almost smell them if it wasn’t time to garden.  Would they? 

Would they???

That would be rude, crude and socially unacceptable.

But just to satisfy you and not because I don’t trust them, I will go to the window and check it out –  just to make you happy…

 

 Oh dear…  It doesn’t look to good to the East.

To the North?  Well, there’s my garden tractor getting buried with snow.

West?  The greenhouse is just a shell of its former self.  How about South?

 

It’s not looking good here either.  And what about the front flowerbed?

 

So much for the tiny spring flowers and bulbs bursting forth from the rich, black soil.

Seed companies – you should be ashamed of yourselves!

 

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The Shakespear Garden

I’ve told you about out Garden Club trip to Sioux Falls but I didn’t even mention the last stop on our trip – the wonderful Shakespeare Garden at Wessington Springs, SD. 

It is amazing to me that I  have traveled past the small town of Wessington Springs so many, many, many times in my life and had never even heard of the garden or the beautiful thatched roof cottage until I started planning the garden club trip. 

How could this happen?  I mean really – this is the only thatched-roof building in the whole flipping state! 

But it’s true.  Thankgoodness for the internet or I would have missed it entirely and probably gone to my grave never realizing it was there.

Anyway…

It all started in 1926 when Mrs. Emma Shay and her husband, Clark W. Shay were both professors at the Wessington Springs Seminary.  Emma was an English Literature teacher and more than anything she wanted to travel to England and learn everything about the area and the writers who called it home.  She knew it would make her a better teacher but she needed $1,000.00 to make her dream a reality.

 

She borrowed the money from the Seminary with the understanding that she would keep a journal of her travels and also gather flowers, leaves or whatever she could get her hands on from the grounds of the homes of  her beloved English authors.  When she returned home these pressed and preserved treasures would be used to make ‘portfolios’ to sell and thereby repay her debt.  And she did it!  She traveled to England alone and saw the homes of the authors whose writings she had always loved and when she returned to her quiet little home in South Dakota she worked hard and paid back the money then promptly set to work (with the help of her husband and students) to build a garden filled with the flowers and plants Shakespeare had written about in his plays. 

 

When Emma and Clark retired in 1932 they began work on a cottage designed from a postcard of the original Anne Hathaway Cottage at Stratford-on-Avon. 

I want to live here (so does Sue).

 

But nothing lasts forever…

 

The college was closed in 1964 and the buildings demolished in 1970 – except for the cottage which was privately owned at the time.

 

In 1989 the Shakespeare Garden Society was established to purchase, restore and take care of this wonderful place and the rest is history.

 

Our garden club had arranged a group tour and English tea complete with fresh scones hot from the oven.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and felt like little girls playing tea party.

 

If your planning a trip through South Dakota be sure to stop by and check it out.  Their web site is:  www.shakespeargarden.org   It gives you scheduals and upcoming events. 

Just makes you want a ‘spot o’ tea’ doesn’t it?

 

 

 

 

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Garden Tour Memories or Traveling With Dirty Old Women

Since I’m missing summer and my garden, I thought I would show you some photos I took a couple years ago when our Garden Club went to Sioux Falls, SD.

 

 Our first stop was the Strawbale Winery.  I love unusal buildings and this place was built using strawbales covered with stucco and siding – how cool is that?  And it was cool inside – a perfect place to age wine.  And after a few samples I was definately

‘feeling the love’.

We’ve got lots of bales at home, honey – lets start building!

We also toured the Pettigrew Museum.  This little home was purchased by Senator Richard Pettigrew in 1911.  And it looks like he might still be here – check out the front step.  

OK, I’m getting freaked out!!!

After touring the Sertoma Butterfly House and all the beautiful gardens of Sioux Falls, it was time to go home but just because it’s time to go home doesn’t mean we have to stop touring – does it?  Of course not – so we stopped at Mitchell, SD and saw the Corn Palace.  This is a huge building that is covered with corn – you heard me right – corn.

There are real corn artists that create amazing (get it – a ‘maize’ ing) works of art on the walls of the building using different, natural colored ears of corn – kind of South Dakota’s version of the Rose Parade only it’s not made with flowers…  and it doesn’t move. 

 

Unfortunately, artwork made of corn doesn’t last forever so every spring the Corn Palace gets a fresh batch of corn and they start over with a totally new design. 

After a little shopping and a bite to eat it really was time to go home – back to our every day lives – only richer now with the memories and photos to cherish of another wonderfull trip. 

Every year to commemorate our journey into the world of natural beauty and art we take a group picture for the local newspaper.  We make sure to choose a place that shows some of the wonders we have seen.  And this year was no exception as Sioux Falls is home to an exact, full-sized replica of the famous scuplture by Michaelangelo – the Statue of David (one of only two castings ever made).  We took several shots be be sure we had captured the ‘soul’ of our journey and of course, I chose the one that showed what a cultured group of refined and gentile ladies we are.

OK, perhaps it wasn’t a good ideal to put me in charge of something as important as this.

Why don’t we have art like this at home?

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Missing Summer

 

  It’s that time of year –

the time when you start  to believe…

  And what do I believe?

I believe snow is pretty…

 the first time

Snow is even pretty the second and third time…

But this is the time of year when you

start to believe that it will never end!

It just keeps coming!

And I’m a wimp when it comes to the cold.

 

Can you tell?   

I’m missing summer.

It’s gonna be a looooong winter.



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