The Garden Is Growing

I know we have now quite shaken off the final grasp of winter, but we are definitely getting close. About a month from now, many of us will be taking to our yards to start digging and planting in earnest--finally free of frost worries we can start putting our plants and seeds in the ground. In our house, this process began around mid-March.

My husband came home with a few packets of seeds, some seed starting soil (more peat than soil--a nice mix) and some small plastic trays. He spent the day planting the seeds for his tomato and pepper plants. We also have onion and pumpkin seeds that will go right into the ground in mid-May. Whenever Dan comes come with his seed envelopes and little bag of potting mix I always know that winter won't last too much longer--that we are going to make it through the cold and windy days and enjoy sunshine and Buffalo's incomparable summers soon.

I love watching the sprouts grow on our table before we can plant them outside. It always seems like such a time of hope. Every day they are different. At first, just black soil. Then maybe just the faintest hint of green breaking through the top of the soil. Before you know it, you come home from work one day and there is an explosion of green shoots all climbing toward the sun streaming in your kitchen window. All the plans made in the dark of winter when poring over the Burpee catalog and dreaming of a world turning green and then bursting with life are slowly starting to become reality. I am already looking forward to biting into that first sun-warmed tomato and slicing up that first pepper. This year will be particularly exciting in our house as my husband and I try to learn the lost arts of canning and preserving.