It’s mid-January, and I’m chomping at the bit to get the season going. Ill health in my family during December preoccupied me and interrupted some of my usually steady winter attention on ordering seeds and such, but whether well or ill, able or disabled, the season marches on, and I am feeling that urge to get moving.
Normally I have a ritual of planting something on January 1, but this year I slipped back a bit, digging into last year’s seed supply and starting some lettuce and leeks on January 10. The leek seed, by the way, is a few years old, and even though every gardening book I read says leek seed has only a one-year lifespan, these are germinating strongly. Perhaps that should give us all pause to wonder what kind of wiggle room exists in all the other garden “wisdom” that the writers of garden books and magazine articles and seed catalogs (and blogs!) hand down. Anyway, in addition to some ritualistic seeding in early January, I also try to clear out the seed room and make some improvements. This year I deconstructed a wooden-framed plant shelf and replaced it with a sturdy, one might say nigh indestructible, used metal shelf with wire racks. Because I got it at a used warehouse supply store, the price was quite affordable for the quality. Here it is at the store.
