Garden Fever

I'm sort of a late bloomer. Believe it or not, it took me quite awhile before I actually learned to read (ever since then I've been making up for lost time). It took me years to figure out the dating scene (first date:age 18), and it wasn't until only last year that I finally figured out that I love gardening. In retrospect, I should've caught on years ago- me weeding out the neighbours garden to see their daffodils grow is a dead giveaway. At any rate, when we lived in the top half of a house last summer with a big yard and enormous garden did I it finally dawn on me just how much I loved working in the dirt and watching things grow.
I spent a good deal of time in that garden patch everyday, my little munchkins tagging along behind me. We had fun watching the bees collect pollen, observing how tall the sunflowers grew and feasting on raspberries. I was sad to leave and lose my garden, but this summer, although we're living in an apartment, I get to garden an entire half acre with a friend this summer!
Currently, I'm happily plotting out what to grow in this wonderful vast amount of space. It's a great way to pass the time waiting for spring to arrive. Poor Jason, he has to endure my enthusiastic burblings about it quite a bit lately. One thing that I really love about perusing gardening books and seed cataloges is the wonderful names they give types of flowers and vegetables within it's species. They're just so enchanting. Here's some of my favourites;
Sunflowers-there's Teddy Bear, Russian Mammoth and even Ring of Fire (which always reminds me of Johnny Cash)
Poppies-Ladybird, The Clown, Mission Bells, tropical Punch
Nasturtiums-Amazon Jewel and Whirlybird
Roses-Cupcake, Lipstick, and even Fairy Tale
Then there's some vegetable favs:
Radishes-Easter Eggs, which come in shades of purple, pink and red.
Pumpkins- you can grow anything from Cinderella's Carriage to Munchkin.
Gardening is creative, albeit grubby, fun. Here's hoping that I can start planting soon!