I have had a great holiday from writing and sort of a holiday from gardening but it’s time to get back into the world of green growing things and talking to you, my readers, about it. A dedicated, or possibly addicted, gardener never really stops. I created the opportunity to plant a few Amaryllis bulbs with some of my grandchildren over the holidays. They all seem to enjoy it, even the two year old who loved Dallying In The Dirt. The older ones are already sending me pictures of the big blooms that they have managed to grow. It’s a great way to get kids interested and excited about gardening. Easy to plant; grows fast; amazing results.




It’s now time for getting some of the early seeds into the soil and under the lights. Long season flowers such as Impatiens and early vegetable like Onions need to be germinating in the next week or so. Last year I tried planting Onion seeds in individual little cells instead of broadcasting them over the surface of a larger container. Although it took up much more room under the lights and in the cold frame, it did seem to produce a much better crop of Onions than the broad cast method had over the past few years. I will do that again in the next week. Of course to do that I had better get online and order some Onion seeds. I ordered almost no seeds last year as I had a significant quantity of leftover seeds from previous years. Everything left in the seed box is now at least two years old. While some of them may be still viable they are all going into the compost so that I can start fresh. They will, of course, germinate in the compost heap. Tomato seed, in particular, has an amazing ability to stay viable for several years but there are some exciting new varieties to try this year.