Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Return to Gardening Thoughts

After weeks of being in winter wonderlands in New England and Colorado, I returned home to all sorts of signs of spring. First there were the amaryllis that have been reluctantly making their way into the world since mid-December.
The next signs of spring could be found in the yardAnd then finally, right here on my kitchen counter ... the compost bucket has emerged from winter hibernation.Ever hopeful, I have started my artichoke seeds. This year I am growing Emerald and Green Globe. I scored the seed cases with a knife and then set them in wet paper towels on a heating mat for two days. I planted them yesterday in warmed starting mix. I planted a dozen of each variety and will consider myslef lucky if 6 of each make it into the garden.

2 comments:

Thomas said...

Hi Leslie, good to see that you are back in action. I had such a time with my artichokes as well. My first sowing was disastrous. Then, I got much better results by soaking them for 24 hours. I went from 1 out of 10 germination to 15 out of 20. They are definitely finicky!

Leslie said...

You have chosen a demanding mistress.