I spent a while this weekend reading everything I could google online about "Winter Sowing".
Hmmm, my space in the family room is limited, what with the four cats and now my crawling grandbaby who needs room to roam without continuous "no"s from her grandma while she's exploring. And... the scented geraniums, rosemaries and the orchid are already taking up all my window space.

It's admittedly been worse, back when I caught the seed-starting bug you couldn't walk across the room, the floor was covered with flats. The light shelves we set up helped somewhat, but I'm just not going back to seedlings, seedlings everywhere for months.
But the backyard?
Hmmm.

I DID have that parsley seed soaking, finally. I even had an extra milk-jug-type jug, (actually a jug from the cider mill, as our milk comes in cardboard cartons).

Here you go:

The jug: cut, filled, sowed, labeled, watered, ready to twist tie closed and put out on the patio.


Snow flurries and 32 degrees. Put a little snow inside just to make sure the seeds stay moist. Parsley goes to hell and back before it sprouts.
Seed starting is an obsession, winter sowing, obviously, is an enabler.

"Only with winter-patience can we bring the deep-desired, long awaited spring."
-- Anne Morrow Lindbergh

project update

I spoke at the meeting last night (easy for you!) and passed around a clipboard with the herb garden plants 'wish list' on it.
My idea is that since it is a "backyard" demo garden, we should be able to trade plants over the fence with our neighbors, so to speak. That's how I got my herb garden started, and it's how gardeners through the ages have increased their plant collections.
Got a couple of folks to sign up to donate plants. (Five! Yes!) and two who will start some seeds!

Adding color with hardy blooming transplants will be helpful to the appearance of the garden.

I gave a short rundown of what I've done in for the project. Gave a little plug for Bluestones, I owe that nursery a debt of gratitude for the low prices and healthy plants I've purchased from their catalogue through the years.

I also approached Mike with an inquiry about his compost. He's promised to set some aside for me, yes! Now I just have to figure out how to get it over to the garden - Mike doesn't deliver. And I have to call ahead when we plan to pick it up, remember that.

Mike sells compost to locals at his place, on May 12 he'll be open for business, a quarter a bucket, or $25 a pickup load. He said last year he topdressed his piles with dehydrated pelletized chicken manure.
Sounds like just what I need.

Calendar

The Backyard Herb Garden is pulling together as a project now. I thought the first thing I'd do is record some of the things I've done to prepare the way, so to speak, and come back when time permits to discuss these things.

Last fall, I took inventory: found old plant list, compared existing signage and existing plants, what need to be done. Submitted budget.

October MG meeting- our budget is folded into the greater landscape budget, but Terry and Phil each reassured me there was extra in it for this garden. Met Dave, Landscape chairman.
Asked general membership to show up for Landscape Cleanup.

Day of work bee: it rained. I melt in the rain. Melville reported only a few showed, the guys piled woodchips in garden paths to avoid snowplow.

Oct. 30, 2006: I took a soil test, used MG coupon from Terry.
Details: 6" deep, 10-15 locations, planned use - perennial flower garden plants.
Also, Terry donated 3 packages (10 each?) of Saffron crocuses from the plant sale, I planted them in tarragon and thyme quadrants of round bed.
Did a small cleanup, preventative deadheading. (1-2 hours)

November - Received soil test by mail. The soil is deficient in NPK, clayish, and sweet. We need to generally amend soil while renovating beds. Annuals in culinary circle will need richer soil... fertilizer? Maybe compost and Canadian peat dug in as we lift and replant.

Received list of volunteers by mail. Need to call list. First do asset mapping... that means figure out what resources, including human resources, are available to make use of. See next paragraph...

Currently attending Applewood-sponsored Urban Gardening class (15 weeks). Ideas on how to lead community gardening projects. Quite helpful.

Proposed teaching a class through the Community Education Department.

Started this blog. The Backyard Herbalist @
http://www.thebackyardherbalist.blogspot.com

Set up a Yahoo Group. The Backyard Herbalist@
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thebackyardherbalist/

January: I ordered plants from Bluestone.
I listed the ordered plants on a database stored in the Yahoo group.

February: I got some free seeds from the Extension.
I listed the free seeds and made a donation wish-list on a database stored in the Yahoo group.

Today: I taught myself how to export database to MS Access for printable format.
Printed Donation Sign-Up Sheet to pass around Feb. MG meeting.
Printed Plants list of ordered plants.

"Above all others, the fragrances of green growing herbs, not gaudy or showy, but comfortable and homey, have the power to cast a spell over us so that we recall only the pleasant past, with all the sharp hard corners of grief and sadness softened."
-- Rosetta Clarkson

Herbal border

My backyard

Learn about GM crops and the "ownership" of life

You can listen to Percy via your computer or podcast it... follow the link below.

MONSANTO VS. PERCY SCHMEISER
Report on the lawsuit that challenges the ownership of life by corporations by Percy Schmeiser and Ignacio Chapela.

Monsanto, the giant multinational agro-chemical company, sued Percy Schmeiser over the presence of their patented canola that had invaded the edges of Schmeiser's field from a neighbor's plot. The Schmeiser case has become one of the most watched and most important cases for organic farmers, seed savers, for the movement against the invasion of the biosphere by genetically modified plants, and against corporate ownership of life.

Part ONE: Schmeiser was recorded in Ukiah, CA, in November 2006. He gave a report of his multi-year legal battle to save his land and home, and his 50 year legacy as plant breeder from being seized by Monsanto over 12 pounds of invading seeds.

After two shattering losses in court he finally won a partial victory in the Canadian Supreme Court. However the court upheld Monsanto's patent rights - even when their genetically modified canola invades another field or cross pollinates with organic or pedigree canola or even their relatives.

Any invaded organism becomes the property of Monsanto as well.

Under globalization the patent rights may apply to the US as well.

Percy is a Canadian farmer from Bruno, Saskatchewan. He took over the family farm in 1947. He and his wife are known on the Prairies as seed savers. Over 50 years they developed a canola seed that was resistant to disease and lost their life's work by contamination from genetically modified canola.

In part TWO Percy Schmeiser shares the stage with Ignacio Chapela, from UC Berkeley. In October 2000 Chapela discovered the contamination of Mexican corn with Monsanto GMO corn.

For a broadcast quality .mp3 version of both parts of the broadcast, courtesy of TUC Radio, and more great programming, click here.