SPRING INTO ACTION

It’s one of those mornings where you think spring has arrived, at last. The early morning sun is flooding through the bedroom window. You feel good, despite patches of snow that refuse to melt.

The thermometer – minus 10 C – reminds us that it might reach a high of -3C later on.

That kind of temperature is rather a ‘harbinger’ of the approaching spring. Period.

Yet you’re inspired – at least I am at this time of year – to plant a garden. A small one. With carrots, tomatoes. Garlic for sure. Potatoes. Hmm. They take up too much space. To say nothing of all that digging.

Then again what we really want is to grow anything that will remind of spring by planting indoors.

In a recent Toronto Star column by gardeners Mark and Ben Cullen in write ‘if there is a piece of ground or empty planter in your life that is begging to grow a tomato plant, some fresh carrots, now is the time to acquire the seeds’.

How do you do that without leaving home? Online is the answer. He mentions seed companies such as Hawthorn Farm Organic Selected Seeds: hawthornfarm.ca. Or William Dam seeds. Then there’s Veseys in Prince Edward Island,. These among others.

Author’s comment: Do you have you kids bumping around the house with nothing to do? There’s a not-for-profit ‘Plant a Seed and See What Grows Foundation. Then again, pick up seeds soon at your local outlet, plant ‘em in anything. Stick them in a sunny window. Spring can’t be far behind.