THE SEED CATALOGUES

Seed catalogues, or catalogs, depending on where you live, start arriving at most gardeners’ homes just about three weeks before Christmas. That is plenty of time for us to get all the gardens put to bed for the winter and a good taste of the winter to come. We are already longing to be in the garden instead of in the house.
If there was a National Contest of Seed Catalogue Receivers, I would be the winner hands down, all I would have to do is wheel in with my stacks of goodies and everyone else would give up and go home.
The reason I get so many catalogues is no surprise: I order from nearly every one of them.
I am so tired of being in the house that by the time the first one arrives all I want is spring and as quickly as possible. With that in mind, as I look thru each one I find something that I have never seen before, that I have never tasted before, that might be better than what I planted last year, germinates quicker, grows bigger, tastes better, there are countless possibilities.
One year I pledged only to order from a few, postage costs were increasing and all gardeners know you can pay double or more for postage on one packet of seed than the seed alone costs. So, I made lists, I crossed off, I substituted, I added, I eliminated, and at the end had a meager few places to order from.
So, the stack just sat and percolated and I stewed, I would walk by, but I would not open even the top catalogue, the list was made and that was that. I kept busy with my planting charts and plans for which seeds would go in the ground in which place.
Then March hit and with it a snow storm to stop all thoughts of spring, couldn’t go outside, couldn’t even get outside, it snowed for 14 straight days, 7 feet on the ground, then the snow stopped, it started to warm up and the 7 foot that was on the roof fell right in front of the front door – I was stranded, totally stranded until someone could come and dig me out!!!
I paced, I fiddled with everything, I cleaned house, and on day 3 I sat down beside the stack of catalogues and started to go thru them, I was going to throw out what I wasn’t going to order from.
Then like a bolt, cabin fever hit me, and if you have never suffered from this, it isn’t a pretty sight, I started tearing thru the catalogues, making new lists, adding up orders, writing checks, getting them ready to mail. I started a new garden chart, I incorporated all the new wonderful plants that I would have if summer ever came.
Day 4, the scoopers came and dug me out and I raced to the mailbox with my hands full of seed orders.
And, peace once again reigned in my world, the seeds were ordered and I would have a new bigger, better, more fun garden the coming summer than ever before!

The Awesome Auger

When you live in the land of hard clay and solid rock you are instantly drawn to things that dig holes more easily. My collection includes a rock splitter, a pole driver, a sharp shooter, a mallet and chisel and a very high pressure nozzle for hydra blasting. So, when I saw this wonder tool on TV called the Awesome Auger I was enthralled. Not only did I buy myself one- I bought both of my girls one. It turned out to be almost as advertised. With that thing attached to a drill and a hundred feet of heavy duty extension cord I could dig some holes!
In the spring we visited our daughter Lee . I was excited to present her with her new toy. She looked at the weird contraption in my hands with squinty eyes and a cocked head. Without much enthusiasm she said ,“Interesting”. That’s code for yucky. There was definitely a chill in the air. Even the steel of the auger felt colder in my hands.
However, the next morning found me and “Augie” happily digging holes for the seedlings lee and I were planting. Lee was planting and patting the dirt snug. When we got to the last few holes Lee said “Let me try that”. Yea! She was warming up. All went well and on the last hole Lee released the trigger and let go of the drill.
But the drill didn’t stop! Suddenly the auger was bouncing across the ground like a manic mambo dancer; I’d swear it was chasing Lee.
“What the ………….” I stood frozen for a few stunned seconds. Then I thought, as comical as this looks, there is real danger here. Just as it was catching her, I ran to the cord and jerked the plug out then skidded to a stop beside Lee who was sitting on the ground. She was rubbing a badly bruised leg with a nasty abrasion and glaring murderously at the Auger.
Of all things…This is a girl who is proficient with a chain saw, skill saw and heavy equipment much bigger than she is . And with never so much as a ding.
That afternoon at our daily family council (happy hour) Lee’s husband, Bo, proclaimed the auger;
Unwelcome in polite society,
Banished to the mountains forever
And
Put under lock and key until transport could be arranged.
I repressed the urge to declare the whole thing the drill’s fault. Some things are better left unsaid.
And given the bad juju between Lee and the auger I really couldn’t say that with certainty.
Could I?

THE SEED CATALOGUES

Seed catalogues, or catalogs, depending on where you live, start arriving at most gardeners’ homes just about three weeks before Christmas. That is plenty of time for us to get all the gardens put to bed for the winter and a good taste of the winter to come. We are already longing to be in the garden instead of in the house.
If there was a National Contest of Seed Catalogue Receivers, I would be the winner hands down, all I would have to do is wheel in with my stacks of goodies and everyone else would give up and go home.
The reason I get so many catalogues is no surprise: I order from nearly every one of them.
I am so tired of being in the house that by the time the first one arrives all I want is spring and as quickly as possible. With that in mind, as I look thru each one I find something that I have never seen before, that I have never tasted before, that might be better than what I planted last year, germinates quicker, grows bigger, tastes better, there are countless possibilities.
One year I pledged only to order from a few, postage costs were increasing and all gardeners know you can pay double or more for postage on one packet of seed than the seed alone costs. So, I made lists, I crossed off, I substituted, I added, I eliminated, and at the end had a meager few places to order from.
So, the stack just sat and percolated and I stewed, I would walk by, but I would not open even the top catalogue, the list was made and that was that. I kept busy with my planting charts and plans for which seeds would go in the ground in which place.
Then March hit and with it a snow storm to stop all thoughts of spring, couldn’t go outside, couldn’t even get outside, it snowed for 14 straight days, 7 feet on the ground, then the snow stopped, it started to warm up and the 7 foot that was on the roof fell right in front of the front door – I was stranded, totally stranded until someone could come and dig me out!!!
I paced, I fiddled with everything, I cleaned house, and on day 3 I sat down beside the stack of catalogues and started to go thru them, I was going to throw out what I wasn’t going to order from.
Then like a bolt, cabin fever hit me, and if you have never suffered from this, it isn’t a pretty sight, I started tearing thru the catalogues, making new lists, adding up orders, writing checks, getting them ready to mail. I started a new garden chart, I incorporated all the new wonderful plants that I would have if summer ever came.
Day 4, the scoopers came and dug me out and I raced to the mailbox with my hands full of seed orders.
And, peace once again reigned in my world, the seeds were ordered and I would have a new bigger, better, more fun garden the coming summer than ever before!