Seedlings!

Last weekend I planted seeds: tomatoes, chiles, eggplant, sweet peppers, broccoli, cilantro, basil, and dill. I also went out and bought fluorescent light fixtures and made my own grow lights. This week I've been checking every day, to see what's sprouting. The broccoli was first, followed today by some of the tomatoes and the basil. Those are tiny basil seedlings in the picture. The days are getting longer--spring is coming!

Rhododendrons

Rhododendrons look a bit scary when it gets really cold. The leaves curl up and wilt. Looks like they're dead, or soon will be. But, no. All it takes is a bit of warmth and sun, and they spring back to life. The photo shows the same plant, the same day. First thing in the morning, on a cold February morning, the leaves are curled up tight against the cold. A few hours later, as soon as the sun hits them, the leaves are completely open.

It's an interesting strategy that protects the plant from snow damage. Instead of piling on and flattening the plant, the snow just slides right off. Which, finally, is what the snow around here is doing. For the first time in the fourteen winters I've been here, we've had some snow on the ground for over two months (since a big storm the week before Christmas). This weekend has been wonderfully warm--we've had the windows open all day--so most of the snow is gone. Maybe spring really will come some day soon.

Planning for Spring

I spent some time yesterday trying to figure out what I'm going to plant in my vegetable garden this spring. Not only did I have free time (snow day!), but I remembered that it's time to start broccoli seeds (indoors), so I figured I needed to buy some soon... I looked at some online retailers, then headed off to my local big-box home improvement stores. Funny thing: I found almost all of the varieties I was looking for in the stores, and the seeds were about half the price in the stores as they were online. To make things even more confusing, the package sizes online and in the store aren't the same, and often aren't comparable. One place had a packet of 30 seeds, while the other was 250mg. Go figure. Even if the cheaper packets are smaller (and the more expensive packets have a lower unit price), I'm only planting a few of each variety, so I don't need to buy in bulk for most things. I save a lot of seeds from one year to the next, so I'm only buying a few new varieties--like four different varieties of basil! I can't wait to get started!