New Life Begins

It's hard to imagine that I would be so excited about a cold, grey and rainy Saturday, but I am. Even though I've been suffering slightly from seasonal affective disorder, and desperately need sun, warmth, and blue skies, this dull day gives me a chance to focus on bringing new life into the world. I'm talking, of course, about growing this years vegetable garden from seed.

Thanks to my mom, I have cultivated a love for gardening, and I find nothing more fascinating than taking a seed anywhere from the size of a period (.) to the size of an o, putting it into some dirt, and then waiting for the tiny green shoot to emerge. Once the shoot emerges, its a matter of days before the leaves unfold, a week before it second set of leaves, and next thing you know, the days are warmer and longer and its time to move your little seedlings out of doors. From there, they really take off, digging their roots into the soil, stretching their stems toward the sun, flowering, fruiting, producing the most delicious and nutritious food for me to continue my growth and celebration of life. For, to me, that's what growing from seed is, a true celebration of life.

I have grown from seed for years now, and love experimenting with all the various kinds of plants there are. I look forward to my seed catalogues from Seed Savers Exchange, Seeds of Change, Sow True, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, and Edible Landscaping. The last three catalogues are local, but all promote the idea of growing heirloom and rare varieties, not just the basic one or two varieties, usually hybrids, of a handful of fruits and vegetables you buy from a home improvement store, or even most garden centers. Sometimes the choices are overwhelming. Against my better judgement, we will be ordering six different kinds of peppers, all because they sound interesting. And why not? A packet of seeds is in a the price range of a buck or two, so if something doesn't work out, you're not out much money. More importantly is that seeds do work out. You spend a couple buck for 50 seeds, you can save those seeds you didn't use this year and plant them again next year and the year after. If if the viability is 70%, that's still a likelihood of 35 plants, which can produce several dollars worth of vegetation that you now don't have to buy in the grocery store, but pick right out of your own backyard. In the end its one heck of a savings.

Even better than saving money is the full spectrum of health benefits from growing your own produce. Gardening itself can be great exercise, with plenty of sunshine and fresh air. Nutritionally, produce that has ripened directly on the plant, and then picked and eaten immediately is a powerhouse of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Not to mention, the flavor. Anyone who has ever compared a store bought tomato and a fresh-off-the-vine-still-warm-from-the-sun tomato can tell you that the taste is worlds apart. In fact, after eating the home grown tomato, it is safe to say that the store bought tomato has no flavor. Some of the best food I ever had contained ingredients from my own backyard.

So, while I stare out the window, trying to imagine what my garden will look like in eight weeks, I'm not feeling a single case of the blahs. Instead, my spirits lift at the possibilities before me.