Well, I just made it. With eight hours to spare, I got the bulk of my seeds started while the moon is still waxing; it will be full in the eight o'clock hour this evening. Country lore says to plant "with" the moon. I don't mind a dash of superstition to season what little science I know of this gardening, along with a measure of ritual and tradition. I've got eight flats of starts under the lights in the mud/sunroom (what's with all these eights?); in excess of 150 seedlings if they all germinate. Six or eight (!) varieties of tomatoes; red, orange, and chocolate sweet peppers; cucumbers; four kinds of zinnias; asters (never done these before); dill, fennel, basil, parsley. If all goes well, they'll all end up in three or four different gardens by June. I have room for two more flats, which I'll use to test-germinate seed gathered from last year's garden — zinnias, marigolds, and echinacea. I'll start a few watermelons in mid-April. Never had much luck with vining fruit, except for the pumpkins that volunteered in the compost pile last year. Think I'll just plant the watermelons in the manure pile and see what happens.
Last autumn was so busy, I didn't get around to manuring and tilling the early-season bed. I think I'll be alright on fertility, but getting it turned over will be problematic in this wet season. We'll see how it is in another week, when the first of the cool-season seeds should go in the ground. Meantime, bulbs are on their way from Holland, and a fig tree from South Carolina. Oh, how will I fill my idle hours?
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