So this Spring I was determined to grow some really magnificent Sweet Peas. I think ... though don't hold me to it, they are my favorite flower. I did some research this winter and found a web site of a florist who grows her own flowers. Sweet Peas are HER favorite too...
http://www.floretflowers.com/?s=sweet+peas
I fairly SWOON when I look at this picture....
Now to be fair, these are growing in a greenhouse under expert care. So I have no illusions that mine are going to turn out like those beauties.
But I DID read her directions and followed them to a T. I even bought some seeds from her web site as a extra insurance to my success this year.
Those plants are now growing in the garden in pots. I don't know if they are going to amount to anything just yet, but I am QUITE sure they won't look like hers.
I'll let you know in about six weeks.
I have been starting a few other plants ahead of time, and spend no small amount of time fussing with them each day, watering, moving them in and out of the house, bringing them in when it's too windy, fretting until they sprout... on and on. Fuss. Fuss. Fuss.
So it was particularly annoying the other day when I spied something in the little flower bed just outside my back door.
About 10 days ago, I was sorting my garden seeds at the kitchen table. I accidentally spilled quite a few kale seeds that I had saved from last year all over. I got most of them back into the envelope and brushed the rest into my hand. I didn't want to throw them in the garbage, so I stepped outside and tossed them into the flower bed.
And promptly forgot them.
Until yesterday.
And there... unattended, un-fussed over, not moved or watered, without any mental or emotional attention whatsoever, the little blighters are taking over the world.
I don't get it.
The ones I planted in the garden took their sweet time coming up and I had to water them every single day.
AND to add to my gardener's confusion and chagrin, the other day I was watering S's garden for her while she was out of town and I glanced over by the cherry tree. Lo and behold, in a spot that I had planted some very special Sweet Pea seeds... THREE YEARS AGO.... was a luxurious stand of them three feet tall and blooming profusely. No one has touched them except to water that area the whole time. They seeded themselves, came up when they felt like it was time, and just... grew.
In the meantime, my fussed over Sweet Peas are nowhere NEAR ready to bloom and seem on the verge of expiring every single time I look at them.
There are days when I am ready to hand in my gardener's badge and soaker hose and take up some other hobby.
I clearly don't have any idea what I'm doing.
And if anything thrives in my garden, it must be by sheer accident.
I'm just the person who turns the dang water on and off.
I fairly SWOON when I look at this picture....
Now to be fair, these are growing in a greenhouse under expert care. So I have no illusions that mine are going to turn out like those beauties.
But I DID read her directions and followed them to a T. I even bought some seeds from her web site as a extra insurance to my success this year.
Those plants are now growing in the garden in pots. I don't know if they are going to amount to anything just yet, but I am QUITE sure they won't look like hers.
I'll let you know in about six weeks.
I have been starting a few other plants ahead of time, and spend no small amount of time fussing with them each day, watering, moving them in and out of the house, bringing them in when it's too windy, fretting until they sprout... on and on. Fuss. Fuss. Fuss.
So it was particularly annoying the other day when I spied something in the little flower bed just outside my back door.
About 10 days ago, I was sorting my garden seeds at the kitchen table. I accidentally spilled quite a few kale seeds that I had saved from last year all over. I got most of them back into the envelope and brushed the rest into my hand. I didn't want to throw them in the garbage, so I stepped outside and tossed them into the flower bed.
And promptly forgot them.
Until yesterday.
And there... unattended, un-fussed over, not moved or watered, without any mental or emotional attention whatsoever, the little blighters are taking over the world.
I don't get it.
The ones I planted in the garden took their sweet time coming up and I had to water them every single day.
AND to add to my gardener's confusion and chagrin, the other day I was watering S's garden for her while she was out of town and I glanced over by the cherry tree. Lo and behold, in a spot that I had planted some very special Sweet Pea seeds... THREE YEARS AGO.... was a luxurious stand of them three feet tall and blooming profusely. No one has touched them except to water that area the whole time. They seeded themselves, came up when they felt like it was time, and just... grew.
In the meantime, my fussed over Sweet Peas are nowhere NEAR ready to bloom and seem on the verge of expiring every single time I look at them.
There are days when I am ready to hand in my gardener's badge and soaker hose and take up some other hobby.
I clearly don't have any idea what I'm doing.
And if anything thrives in my garden, it must be by sheer accident.
I'm just the person who turns the dang water on and off.