Patience is not my strong suit. But obsessiveness is, which is why every year, as soon as I pick that last piece of Christmas wrapping paper off the living room floor, I rub my hands together and get comfy on the couch with a cup of tea and a huge stack of gardening books. And every year I make way too many lists, buy way too many seeds and start them way too early. It's a disease! A really wonderful, fun and expensive disease!
I started two kinds of onions, broccoli and kale and they are quietly coming to life on a heat mat in my bathroom- a bathroom that I frantically shoo family members away from any time they are within a three meter radius of it's door. Poor family. Don't even get me started on Hugo, an enormous blonde whirlwind on paws. I may have to give him away for, oh, six months or so.
The heat mat's new. A splurge when I saw it on clearance for HALF PRICE at Buckerfields (da da dahhh!!!) Even then, $45 to keep seeds toasty seems a little excessive and coddling. I wondered, would I spend $45 to keep myself taosty on a heat mat, and the answer was no. But then, I don't personally supply the family with months and months worth of tasty and organic vegetables, so I reasoned that it was well worth it. John agreed, which is amazing given his rather Natzi like approach to heating bills (he's extremely un-Natzi like in every other possible way, so I let this one slide).
I have way too many questions this year! Like how do I prune my mystery raspberry canes and do I want more than 40 onions? I'm hoping that when I look back on this blog next spring I'll chuckle, shaking my head sympathetically at all the things I didn't know (old me) and how enlightened I am now (future me) and how far I've come in one year. That's the plan, anyway. We'll see how it goes!
You want as many onions as you have space to grow!!!! We can never have enough. This year we ran out in January and it's SHAMEFUL that I have to buy them from the store for the next few months. Although -- chives do provide a respectable replacement in times of desperation, and can be frozen. And green onions are a nice early spring surprise.
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