January 2020: Monthly review

This bright red amaryllis should bring cheer!

Still having trouble remembering to write “2020.” Keep thinking it’s a vision descriptor rather than a year, and as I dwell on that mental block, it seems possibly related to another block: I have no vision for 2020! All through January, I admonished myself that I should be thinking about the gardens, ordering more seeds (although nothing in the catalogs was found to be new and exciting), finalizing the garden maps, cleaning the seed starting area, hauling seeding flats from the greenhouse to the basement and more. However, I did nothing. I spent the month reading (11 books!) and not a one of them was garden-related. I started organizing seeds, got interrupted soon after, and never returned to the task. I haven’t checked the bulbs in the light stand, or hauled in potting soil to thaw. The potager’s seeding schedule has not even been started, although the first seeding generally occurs on January 25.

I’m not sure what has caused my lack of desire, but it’s probably a number of things. Lack of sunshine (only 4 days in January!); cold, wet weather (one of the rainiest Januarys on record!); the state of the world, our country, elections, another birthday…whatever the cause, I keep telling myself to perk up and get busy…as I reach for yet another book. Even the startling red blooms of an amaryllis bulb started before the Christmas decor went up has not improved my mood, or given me a vision of what I want the gardens to be this year. I did not even take an “official” monthly photo this month, but you can see the soggy potager through the window and rain in the photo of the amaryllis.

And, possibly part of the lack of vision is the lack of need. We have barely made a dent in the food preserved last season, so there seems to be no current push to plan for yet more produce to add to the shelves and freezers. The only thing we have run out of is onions! I guess I’m just gloomy to match the weather and the news.

However, just to go on record here is the harvest total for January, 2020. Yes, I actually did harvest, both from the outdoor bed and from the poly-tunnel, a total of 1.25 lbs. of spinach. That’s it, but at least it’s something and over twice what was harvested at the same period last year. And, the harvest journal has been “set up” properly.

Rubbing shoulders with enthusiastic gardeners amid booths of plants is a mood-lifter!

In an effort to jump-start my motor and get in gear, I drove over 3 hours through fog to attend a one-day gardening seminar, three buildings complete with over 140 vendors, a full day of speakers (two tracks of sessions simultaneously, so preferred topics could be chosen) and a terrific seed and bulb exchange.

I’ve never seen so many crates of elephant ear bulbs before! This was only about 1/3 of the display.

The drive home was through snowfall, which has already melted, but despite the weather my mind was beginning to picture raised beds of green sprouts, and tips of bulbs pushing through the mulch in the flower beds. I think I’m finally ready to begin!

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