The grass grows

And it’s eighty degrees

The trees bloom

And unfurl delicate leaves

Then you wake

To azaleas frosted in snow

The thing about March is –

You just never know.

So far the seed-starting efforts around here are going pretty well.

In previous years this stage of the garden has been fraught with insecurity, but like most things garden-related, this year I'm feeling a little more confident; a little more relaxed. While I would like to do things on a slightly larger and more organized scale, I am nonetheless content to do this suburban style - using an unnecessary and expensive appliance to accomplish a fairly low-tech job.

My husband gave me an Aerogarden about four or so years ago for Christmas, and though we used its pods and nutrient tablets that first winter to grow herbs, I stopped using it when the nutrient tablets were gone. For me, anything that requires that I keep purchasing something eventually becomes an annoyance, and the Aerogarden was relegated to the attic. It wasn't until a few years ago when I first considered starting seeds, rather late in the game - April or May I think - that I thought of the Aerogarden again. Or, it would be more accurate to say, that I thought of the lights.

It turns out that the Aerogarden lights make a perfectly adequate seed-starting station, and I've used it for that the past few years. The light is on an adjustable arm so that you can move it higher as the plants grow. There is a timer that can be set to provide 16 hours of light and 8 hours of darkness. All I have to do is drop by every few days to water and ogle the progress.

My current fascination is with these leek seedlings, unfolding themselves up out of the ground - partly because they're so different from all the other babies and partly because it was so surprisingly quick and easy for them to come up.

The curcurbits (here cucumbers and canteloupe; the watermelon has only just curling its milky white neck up out of the soil) are an old stand-by for me now. I think they are particularly reassuring to me because they are not only not complicated but they are big compared to the tomato, pepper and leek seeds, and so everything seems so much more sturdy.

Here is my latest batch of baby tomatoes just up: Nova (4) and Taxi (2).

And a representative jalepeno pepper.

And here is one of a few nicely developing eggplant seedlings.

My first batch of seedlings - beefsteak tomato and jalepeno - have already started thier brief but increasingly long forays into the great outdoors to start "hardening off", not because they're going into the ground any time soon, but because as you can see, space under the grow light is limited, and I still have another batch of seeds to start - Carmen peppers and Bulgarian Carrot peppers.

Not pictured is a nice windowsill of sweet potato slips greening up in mason jars full of water. The parent potatoes are still pumping out slips in the darkness under my cabinet, so I guess I'll keep plucking them off and greening and rooting until I no longer have anywhere in the garden to put them. But that's a post for another time, because they won't start going into the ground for a few weeks yet. For the time being, my garden buddy and I are still just growing gardens in our minds – and ocassionally on the living room rug.

At the starting post, they all look like winners. Sleekly curved, bays and browns, full of vigor and mystery.

Into the potting soil they go. The soil is brushed across to cover them, water is dispensed, they are tented with Ziploc and set on the seedling mat. The seedling mat is plugged in.

And then I wait.

Every day I check them – day one, two, three, four – nothing.

And then, a glimmer of hope as one of the contenders begins to stretch out its neck. Listada De Gandia Eggplant. The crowd goes wild!

Once one of them steps up the pace, it seems the race is on. It’s Listada De Gandia by a swan’s neck curve, and then it’s Beefsteak Tomato. Beefsteak Tomato is up. Listada number two is pushing up behind them, and then Beefsteak is the first to stand up straight and tall like an arrow. Then Listada. Then Listada number two. Then Beefsteak number two. But wait a minute, who’s that hurrying up behind them? It’s Jalepeno From Last Year’s Seed! Jalepeno From Last Year’s Seed is still in the race! The crowd roars!

Before I can even catch my breath, Jalepeno From Last Year’s Seed Number Two is up, then Jalepeno From Last Year’s Seed Number Three. Listada Number One spreads its first two slim leaves. Now there’s seven Listadas, three Beefsteak Tomatoes, and five Jalepenos From Last Year’s Seed. 

Jalepenos From Packet is still at the starting gate.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please step to the window to place your bets for the next race. The contenders:

• Bush Baby Zucchini
• Eden Gem Muskmelon
• Watermelon From Last Year’s Seed
• Diamant Cucumber
• Roxton Hybrid Leeks
• Bulgarian Carrot Hot Pepper
• Organic Redventure Celery
• Sweet Carmen Pepper
• Nova Tomato
• And the favored winner, 10-1: Taxi Tomato

Hurry! Place your bets! It’s going to be a heck of a race!

 Excerpts from my 2009 garden notes:

 June 8: My yellow taxi plant seems stunted and unruly compared to my other heirlooms, but it is heavy with ripening tomatoes, way more than any of the other plants have at this point.

July 11: Most of my tomato plants are lush and huge, but not with huge amounts of fruit. This little bugger (the Taxi), on the other hand, is FULL of fruit, and looks low and stunted. I haven't done anything to it (no sucker pinching, etc.) but it certainly is putting all its efforts into developing fruit and not into developing foliage. I guess that's good?

July 12: Well, that yellow tomato plant I showed you a picture of yesterday today has an entire dead limb on it. Yesterday, it was only the suckers (?) the small limbs that had no flowers or fruit on them that were dying and dropping off. I pulled a bunch of ripening tomatoes off of there today.

 July 26: Well, the heirloom tomatoes are really popping now, and starting to earn their keep! So we've gone into preservation mode around here, learning as we go, and exercising that hot water canner! (Note: to all of you with a discerning eye, you are correct: the big yellow pointed tomato on top is not a Taxi.)

 A local area food program that I participate in here in Southern Maryland is selling heirloom tomatoes for $4 a pound. My kitchen window has pretty much looked like this - rotating tomatoes through to finish ripening before being turned into some product (BBQ sauce, canned tomatoes or spaghetti sauce) - for over a week now. And we've eaten plenty raw in salads, and have given some away. I'd say the $25 investment for the 6 transplants was WELL worth the money. And boy are they tasty. Thank you Tasteful Garden!!!!

August 26: The yellow taxi is gasping its last breath. Not sure what happened to it, but it sure put out a HUGE amount of fruit, all within about a month, and then kind of shrunk up and petered out.

End of excerpts. Back to present time:

 Though I ordered the same 6-pack of heirloom tomatoes from The Tasteful Garden in 2010, I did not end up with a Taxi last year, and I missed those early yellow tomatoes, though I was still perplexed about what seemed to be its unnaturally early demise. Lo and behold, flipping through my Territorial Seed Company Catalog a few weeks ago, I found this:

 “TAXI (80 days). The best bright yellow tomato for short season gardeners. This determinate variety grows to about two feet tall and two feet across. Expect heavy yields of mild, non-acid tomatoes for 3-4 weeks. Great for the lunch box and salsas.”

 Holy moly, do you know what this means?

 It means that I did not, in fact, kill off my Taxi – it went through its normal life span, and did exactly what it was supposed to do.

 You may be getting the sense that I cause myself a lot of anxiety by being maybe a little too fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants at this gardening stuff. What can I say? I learn best by hands-on experience. This is gardening year number four. And let me tell you, I’ve learned a lot.

 So what’s the point?

 I ordered a packet of Yellow Taxi seeds, and I’m going to get them started when they get here, which should be any day. I’m excited to have them in my garden again, and like other things that have been very successful around here, we’re adding them to our permanent list of things to grow every year. They are both beautiful and delicious. Try them out!