SPRING OF 1000 PEAT POTS

SPRING OF 1000 PEAT POTS

When snow is eight inches deep and stacked against everything, the pictures in my seed catalogues take on an iridescent glow and start singing like sirens. “Come think about seeds. You could have vines over all the  yard and be harvesting green beans, tomatos, ________.” Just fill in the blank. This is the time of the year when it is really hard to keep spring fever at bay. I have refused to even pick up the sticks and start cleaning up because I’ll get started and then the weather will be bad and spring will be cancelled until May here on the plains.

But the catalogs are really tempting. The pages are glossy. Descriptions are: Our beautiful, mini-sized, colorful lunchbox snack peppers are remarkably sweet and flavorful. They are followed by bright dazzling pictures calling to me, “I’ll grow for you.” So back to my story, the spring of 1000 peat pots. Every window releasing a crack of light was shining that light on at least 25 peat pots. Peat pots were everywhere. One thousand plus seeds later not one tiny green shoot?  Negative, not one. I grew peat pots full of dirt. There you have it, the peat pot siren song. Can you hear it?

So, on this day, when we are shut up in the house by winter storms efforts. I want to say to you. Don’t give up. Don’t surrender to the terrible blahs of the long winter. Listen to the voice in your head that says: “Step away from the peat pots.”