How my garden grows

I have been living in a world of awe and amazement while ideas formed from colorful pictures in seed catalogs turn, rather quickly, into life. So recently, I was sitting in front of a fire, flipping through a stack of catalogs, listing everything I wanted, determined to grow, grow, grow as much as I could. And now, here they come. Every morning, I greet my seedlings, and every night, I wish them goodnight. When I get home from work, I rush to them, and about ten times a day, I stand over them, smiling, coaxing, encouraging their journey, their dance.

I have marigolds and heirloom tomatoes, including the orange fleshed purple smudge tomatoes, which supposedly aren't great for raw eating, but I don't care. I can't wait to see their colors in my garden and I plan to jar as much tomato sauce as I possibly can. I also have sunflowers growing almost at the speed of sight, and I've decided to get more, perhaps some tiger-eye mix sunflowers and some crimson sunflowers.

I also have peppers that have germinated well, fat sweet bell peppers that I can't wait to stuff with brown rice and herbs and grill, and aci sivri hot chile peppers. Perhaps I will make some hot sauce with these. And I have lettuce germinating, and with the weather we've been having, it's time to finish my cloche and get that going. Tomorrow, I'm going to plant more greens for my cloche, some kale, spinach, and arugula.

I plan to let a portion of my yard go to wild flowers, scattering seeds for cosmos, borage (good for bees, strawberries, and eating. The tender young leaves are apparently good in salads and tea) and bee balm and other colorful, pollen filled blossoms to feed my bees. I also plan on having foxglove and hollyhocks, which I love.

For tea and herbs, I want to plant a rose bush that produces rose hips, German chamomile, peppermint, sage, basil (lots of basil!), thyme, bergamot (which may be a challenge), oregano, and lemon verbena. Rosemary is not really necessary. I can pick as much as I want to every time I take a walk, as it grows in large, sprawling shrubs that survive the mild winters here in Portland.

And of course, I have to have some catnip for Elijah. They say that catnip planted from seed does not interest kitties in the least, but transplanted, cats go wild over it. So I'm going to look for some to transplant after spring officially arrives.