Grow, dammit

It's Seedy Sunday at work today, and the place is filled with local seed vendors, bee keepers, chickens... well, ok, just the one chicken. If you've never heard of Seedy Sundays, just think sustainability and local sources and you'll be on the right track.

It's cool. Lots to see and learn about.

It also frustrates the bejeebers out of me, to be honest. Not because of the event itself, but because it's March and around here that means NOT ENOUGH GROWING THINGS.

Things take a while to get going in the Great White North, in other words. The end of winter draaags on, and just when it seems like things are going to start blooming (and tree pollen allergy season's going to start, but that's a topic best left to when it actually starts) we get another snowstorm or a severe freeze. And, obviously, my annoyance builds.

To have tables full of seeds out there just makes me want to plant something, and there's no flipping point yet. I have a well-established gardening urge thanks to my mother and grandmother, and this time of year it becomes almost unbearable. It gets to the point some years that I attempt -- futilely yet again -- to start at least one flat of seedlings in my tiny apartment just so that I can feel like I've planted something. I always waste my time and effort when I do that because I don't have the right set-up at all, but it happens all the same.

Not this year, though. I'm going to keep myself from wrecking perfectly good seeds. Good plan, that, but it seems to have translated itself into a yearning to buy a lemon basil plant from one of today's vendors. Just to have, you understand. Lemon basil's tasty stuff...

Sigh. It really is a bit of a sickness. Next time I go into Dad's place you can bet I'll be prowling the yard looking for any instance of growth in the tulip and daffodil buds that  you've already seen on the blog. They're right next to the house, those plants; nothing else has had a chance to think about growing. Dad's yard is sheltered and holds the snow for a long time, so it can be an irksome place to be when you're desperately looking for any -- any -- sign that spring's a done deal and someday soon you'll be getting the garden (or in my case, balcony planters) in.

'Til then, though...



Any bets that I'll be going home with a lemon basil plant this afternoon?