Monday

Sweet Peas seeds are going in ....

Well, here I am up bright and early for me (it's 9 now but I was up by 8) - I am on my second coffee of the morning and the sun is shining in my window lighting up my office and my morning even though the ground is still covered (mostly) with rather deep snow. For the last week I have been waiting for the snow to melt enough so that I can plant some sweet pea seeds. For the last few years I have been planting sugar pumpkins and acorn squash and some kind of two coloured winter squash - can't remember the name - must check. But I miss my sweet peas ... so I should have put the seeds into the ground in the fall so that I would not have to poke about in hard, cold ground now. It will be rather inconvenient for me but it won't hurt the seeds so here goes ...

There is a big chunky growing post in there that is partially built. You can see the base and the top of the post in the pics. The plans were from one of the gardening magazines for a growing post that looks like a sign post. It looked really great in the picture in the magazine but I never quite finished it. Smaller pieces of 1 inch x 2 inch x 24 inch lumber are nailed horizontally to the post here and there to allow the plants to climb up the post. The 1 x 2 x 24's were supposed to be cut into points on one end to resemble signs pointing in some direction (didn't do it) and the whole thing was to be painted either white or green or whatever colour I so choose. Well, I didn't finish it - so I didn't actually choose any colour. I should finish it and complete the sign so that people can find their way around my small yard - to shade garden, to shed, to back of yard, to deck etc. It would be most helpful.

Well, anyway here is the little plot of ground I am going to put my sweet peas in. I used to grow them there until I switched to winter squash - great plants - big leaves and a great show but I miss my sweet peas. They are the loveliest smelling flower and I have had great luck with them in the past in that location. As I wander to and fro on the deck I am able to enjoy their sweet seductive scent many times in the day.

Oh - my sweet peas are Heirloom Bicolor Mixed and Deep Lilac Spencer. Anyone who has seen the pics of my garden probably has noticed I love the purples and blues in particular. So, in they go ...
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Well, it is done.
My gardening fork was in the shed and I didn't feel like digging around in there. I briefly considered using a large serving fork from the kitchen but I wasn't sure just how hard the ground would be but the ice made me dubious ... so instead I just plucked a big chef's knife out of the drawer and took it out with me. Good thing to ... the ground was thawed (well the first few inches) but as you can see in the photo there is thick ice over some of the soil. Still, that is why I took out a big knife so I stabbed and chopped away most determinedly at the ice pack, praying that the knife didn't slip through my gloved hands and cut through my fingers. Apparently (and fortunately) my grip was tight enough and I successfully hacked and pried away clumps of dirty hard snow and tossed them aside. When I was happy with the size of my little patch (I was pretty happy pretty quickly) I scraped the knife in and about the top couple inches of soil to rough it up a bit. When it was sufficiently mucked up I sprinkled the seeds on the ground, swooshed around the soil with my gloved hand, gave it a final pat and dashed back into my warm house.
I wish I had bothered to retrieve my gardening fork from the shed afterall. It would have been easier than hacking away at the dam ice like a madwoman.




Two days later ....

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