Notes From My Knapsack 1-22-06
Jeff Gill

Getting’ In the Garden

Two pots of lentil stew later, and the last of the green peppers from the garden are gone. Well, used up, anyhow.
Which means this is the right time to start planning for warmth and light and growth and greenness!
True, the frosts are still coating the browns and yellows of our lawns and planting areas most mornings, and the trees are bare sketches of what will be, but all the more reason to think life.
First, because it’s good for your soul: the daylight is lasting longer, but our bones don’t quite believe it, and need convincing from deep within that the seasons are turning ‘round again. I don’t know about "seasonal affective disorder" or the benefits of personally making your own Vitamin D from sunlight on your skin, but I do know that too much grey muck can make anyone feel down and out of sorts.
Second, because this really is a the best time to start planning, indoors during the sleet storms and freezing drizzle, what you want to do when you first stand outside with the birds singing around you and a spade or trowel in your hands.
Pencil and paper still work, but computer programs now abound as well, to help you envision what you can do on the land you’ve got to work with and how to arrange it. There’s what you think at the store looking at flats of plants (hmmm, six to a block, they oughta be a few inches apart, I’ve got something like three yards along there) and then there’s what happens when you get home (whoa, I’ve got way too many). Some quick measurements and calculations can save money and bother, not to mention guesswork, in March and April.
Some folks are so ambitious, whether around their home or in garden plots elsewhere in their community (municipalities, neighborhood associations, churches, and other groups make plots available for gardeners with minimal space of their own), that they order seed and plant seedlings themselves, forcing them to young maturity under grow lights or even atop refrigerators.
Refrigerators? Sure, since the back of your fridge puts out major heat which naturally flows up between wall and appliance, steadily bathing your little peat pots with warmth. That more than actual light is what many plants need to get going.
Another thing pre-planning, purchasing of seed packets, or a little reading can do this time of year is to remind you that not only the time for planting is not so far ahead, but the growth that follows is right behind. Are you about to buy some flats of stuff that will grow taller than what’s behind it? Boy does that feel silly when you realize you’ve done it. . .
Even for those of us who don’t garden and plant extensively can start now to think about the biggest crop most of us manage: lawn grass. I may fantasize about a neatly paved expanse around the house when I’m rushing to mow on a steamy day between appointments with impending rain on the horizon, but that’s not really a good idea in any way. We might be better off with more of us having natural prairie on our property, but we can do some planning to avoid using excessive fertilizer and herbicide treatments on our laws if we start now. Any garden center is happy to see a customer right now, and if you go in and tell them about what your lawn looks like and how big or sloped or weedy it is they will gladly guide you to the products and amounts that are right for you. In my experience, they really don’t want to sell you a ton of nasty chemicals that sit in your garage hardening into a toxic block. They want to give you a healthy lawn at minimal price – so you’ll be happy and come back and buy a bunch of plants and shrubs from them!
At any rate, if you start thinking about this after the grass is growing, some approaches that can safe time, money, and reduce environmental impacts are no longer possible. Ditto the lawnmower, which is probably the single biggest polluter in America (maybe personal waterscooters a close second). Sharp blades, a tuned engine, and a clean air filter can help you put less hydrocarbons into the air and soil, not to mention save you some money on gas, oil, and the life of the engine.
So clear the south 40 of the dining room table and start ploughing a path into a greener 2006 this February!

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and supply preacher around central Ohio; as a gardener, he does better in the produce department, but the intention is there! Send him garden tall tales at disciple@voyager.net.