Yup, that’s right… Seedy SUNDAY! After years of Seedy Saturdays, the Toronto event will be held this year on Sunday, February 21st… that’s just 2 weeks away!!! At the Wychwood Barns, a very cool place to be at any time. I am so excited I cannot even think about it!
Yes, I went last year. It was Shabbos (shhh…), and St Clair is not a bad walk, so I took Elisheva for a walk, and we snuck down there. And, well, seeds are muktzeh; that’s all I’m going to say about that. It was a sad seedy day for some of us Jewish types.
But this year! Sunday! I will go there early! I will swap and swap! I will buy and read and look and listen and learn. Hooray!
Sorry if this comes as a bit of a shock to those of you who have wandered in for my marvellous Jewish thoughts, or my marvellous homeschooling thoughts… there is only one thing in my thoughts as we pull into the home stretch to spring known as FebruMarchy... SEEDS! Seeds and all things seedy! All things green and GROWY!
Speaking of which, it’s also getting closer to another event that pulls me through the winter… though, okay, in a rather posh, upscale, expensive commercial kinda way.
Canada Blooms! It’s a bit closer to the actual start of spring than I think it was last year, but anyway… most of it is not really gardening as I think of gardening (more like either landscaping or flower arranging), but it sure is lovely to see all that green.
Speaking of growing, today is Seedy Sunday around here. After I shoved all of Naomi’s Alef-Bais Party friends out the door, I was able to get down to starting some early flowers: Petunias and Lobelia.
It’s a bit earlier than I started last year’s lobelia, but I’d like them a bit bigger and bushier this year before I put them out. Last year they were kind of puny, though they eventually did fill in (here they are, sprouting last year… why don’t I have a picture of them from later in the season???).
I planted them a bit differently this year. With really fine seed (you get over 1000 in this little baggie), you’re supposed to mix them with garden sand and sprinkle them over the surface. I didn’t have sand, but I did have cactus soil, which has a good deal of sand in it.
So I measured out 6 tsp of cactus soil into a bowl, then tossed in about half the seeds (over 500!) and mixed them around to distribute them. Then, I gently applied about half a teaspoon of sandy-seed mixture onto each of twelve lobelia spaces in my shiny new Lee Valley Self-Watering Seed Starter (did I mention I bought a second one last Monday???).
(btw, I love this thing! It is the BEST for tomatoes, and I figure I can get a bunch of seeds started now to save me being tempted to start tomatoes too early)
As for the petunias, they are a tradition by now. I love watching the babies emerging (here, from 2 years ago… and last year, a bit of a problem). I love watching them bloom! And most of all, I love smelling them. This year, in the other 12 spaces in the Seed Starter, I’m growing the scented “Laura Bush” petunias I ordered a couple of weeks ago; they came incredibly fast; yay!
Here’s to a smelly summer of petunias ahead!
Oh – so what’s the CONTEST?
Right! Thanks for hanging in this far… if anybody has. Lucky thing you did: I’m having my very first contest!
While I was hosting the plant swap last year, Laura at Cubit’s Organics (CubitsOrganics.com), graciously sent me a bunch of seed packets. And then the swap was so chaotic and we had lousy weather and too few people (still fun, though!), and I ended up coming home with most of the seeds in my trunk. And they’re still here! And I’m betting that most are still viable.
SO… here’s what I’ve got:
- Chives (Allium schoenoprasum)
- Italian Large Leaf Basil (Ocimimum basilicum)
- Bouquet Dill (Anethum graveolens)
- Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum)
I have at least four packets of each herb. Just comment here with a very short poem about your favourite to enter the contest: that’s all you have to do!
I’ll choose my four favourite poems – let’s say on Sunday, February 21st, when I get home from Seedy Sunday! – and I’ll send the winners one packet of each type (all 4 herbs!). If there are only 4 entries, everyone wins! If there are only 2 entries, everyone wins double! And if only one person enters, you take the whole lucky collection home for the low, low price of ZERO!!!
I’m paying postage here, because I feel bad for not distributing these seeds reliably in the first place… but not THAT bad, so Canada & US only, please. (you can still write a poem if you’re from somewhere else, but you won’t win)
nice post. thanks.
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