238. Planting

When I started writing this entry I was about a week behind in my planting of the garden. It has been rainy and cold and my rototiller wasn’t working so I had to get it repaired. I had already started pumpkins, winter squash, and zucchini plants in the garage. I spread manure on the garden space and bought tomato plants, tilled and finally planted when it wasn’t raining. I love doing all of that planting. I will probably be replanting some of the beans, but the corn seems to have come up wonderfully. Probably the only part I enjoy less as I age is the spreading of manure and tilling. I know I’ll be sore from those efforts and I don’t bounce back as quickly any more. But placing seeds and checking the plants every day just anticipating their germination is a hoot. Seeing that miraculous combination of compost, seed, sun, and water turn into garden produce that we can eat is just fun. Getting it all ready, while a little bit of work, is something that I love doing.

I anticipate what I want to grow and where I’m going to plant it in the late winter or early spring. Since we built our new garage I start seeds inside in March and April. I bought a moveable workbench table that I place below the single window in the garage. I have a heating pad that keeps the soil warm so that the seeds are quick to germinate. I did it once without a heating pad and had minimal success, probably because it doesn’t get all that warm in the garage in the spring. It’s definitely more fun to watch the seeds germinate up close. I also have the ability to baby them along and I love doing that. I control how much water they get so that they are never deluged with a spring rain. When they get big enough I transfer them to pots that I still keep in the garage and expose them to cooler temperatures. Then a day or two before I plant them in the garden I set them outside for a couple of nights, still monitoring them closely before finally setting them in the garden where they will hopefully produce fruit for the summer and fall. I just love the process of planting.