SEEDLINGS

Just briefly a reprieve from the bitter cold of the winds, then it comes back relentless. The sun is out, but the soil is saturated from yesterday's thunderstorms and the temperature is much colder. The wet cold penetrates to my bones as I kneel in the soft earth to get some seeds planted in the Kitchen garden.
How can little 1/2 inch high brussels sprouts make me feel so pleased as I peer at them in the protected cold frame? The pea, radish and lettuce shoots push strongly upward, too, and despite the unpleasant conditions I find enough pleasure here to make me continue my work. I mark out the rows for the artichoke, basil, and bulb fennel in the cold frame, carefully taking the seeds from the packets. So interesting how they vary, tiny black, elongated brown, these seeds will all need the protection of the glass to keep the soil warm enough for them to germinate. It was also a good day(at least for the seeds) to get some spinach, arugula, parsley, leeks and cilantro buried in the seed beds by the peas. Every one of them prefer the cool temperature of the soil as it is now. The beets will have to wait. The garden bed where I intended to get them started had to many small weeds sprouting, I cultivated the surface and will try agin in a few days.
Zoë comes to nose me, letting me know she is cold and bored, then she retreats to a spot under the dogwood to curl up hoping I come to my senses soon.