Lily sprouts

There they are, all snuggled up to the side of their cottage cheese container. Two lily sprouts, just uncurling themselves from their seed hulls, bracing themselves against soil and structure, soon to stand up straight and tall.

You would never know that the seeds have been waiting months, sitting in ziplocks in my butter chiller in the refrigerater with their toes wet, for the chance to do this within the last few days. How did they know it was time to grow? The refrigerator doesn't open any more or less in spring...The temperature inside the fridge doesn't change. So how did they know? Their dirt cubes are about 1 1/2 square at the top for size reference.

They started out as little black bead seeds, all shiny and plump, about an eighth of an inch across. After about 3 and a half months of forgetting about them, I remembered, and there they were, growing toes. So I gave them some dirt to dig their toes into, and then they stretched...they are beautiful...!

So, naturally, I had to go shopping. For more seeds.

I realized it was about 8 weeks before Memorial Day, which is when I have traditionally aimed at putting tomato and pepper plants into the ground. Last year, I had horrible winter blues and couldn't wait, and planted indoors in January. Hah! Okay, so three plants made it until time to go in the ground, but they were really ugly. We grew a little basil for pesto and it was pretty good. I grew some African Violets under lights too, and still do. I know that's not a "green" thing to do, but I love my A.V.'s, they are on a timer, and there are only 6 plants under a shop light. That's how I start my tomatoes and peppers as well. It's therapeutic too-- helps keep me semi-stable when I can't ride my motorcycle and can't grubble in the dirt outdoors.

Anyway, about the shopping. Eight weeks to go, and no tomato and pepper seeds. Wal-Mart's selection of seeds sucked. I went next door to Lowe's and they were somewhat better, more variety within the vegetable types, and still good prices. I looked at seed catalogs, and I love the incredible variety you can get there, and I would like to try some of them when I have my garden better established in it's new home, but the seeds are very expensive compared to discount stores. I can get Burpee seeds at Lowe's for $1 to $2 per packet, more for the larger packets of course. Some of the catalog seeds in the more unusual varieties not found at discount stores were close to $4 per packet. I would be willing to pay that in the future, but not just yet, and not for everything I plant. They also have tried and true varieties that run just above discount store prices, but you also pay shipping. Next year I will order my "experimentals" early, because catalog seed orders can take possibly 2 weeks to arrive in the busy planting season. I, obviously, did not plan ahead this year.

I did find Roma tomatoes, and Sweet 100 VF cherry tomatoes, both of which have given me good results in the past. I bought two sweet pepper mixes, one of which is a bell multi-color mix which doesn't include green; the other is sweet banana and corni ti toro or red bull horn pepper. I chose Biker Billy Hybrid hot pepper, slightly larger than a jalapeno, "as much flavor as heat," so I'm hoping that means it's good for our salsa. Some of the plants that I grow, (if they survive) I'll share with friends.

We ate kohlrabi for the first time the other night, trying to decide to plant it or not. If store bought tastes that good, it's worth planting. So I bought some of those seeds too, but I saw they aren't that common, or they are and people beat me too them already. I also got wax beans, baby salad spinach, yellow summer squash, patty pan squash, cilantro and sunflowers for seeds. Last but not least, I've never grown a competition-sized pumpkin, a real monster, and I've always wanted to try, so I got some Big Max seeds. I've been told they make good pie, and I love roasted pumpkin seeds. We've got some space out behind the garage for them.

More about planting our tomatoes and peppers tomorrow.