The Clock Ticks and the Calendar Page Turns

It is a challenging shift -- time measured by the calendar rather than the clock.  Nothing about gardening, I am concluding, happens quickly.  In a sit-com world in which every problem is resolved in half an hour, every developmental step accomplished between 30-second commercials, it is a rather nice deceleration.   Patience is the name of the game. 

This past Thursday a shipment of herb seedlings arrived and were quickly transplanted into a planter box in the greenhouse.  In the albeit few days since, I can detect no visible change in the herbs -- which given the incredible odds for wilting, "no change" represents a significant gift, indeed. There, then, sprout vanilla grass, rosemary, Vietnamese cilantro, both Mexican and Italian oregano, English lavender, Greek bay, Moroccan mint, and...dare I even admit it...strawberries.  I know, strawberries aren't herbs, but there they are.

 Prior to the herbs -- indeed one week ago today -- I planted more lettuce seedlings, plus, in a fit of naive optimism, actual seeds for spinach, mustard and arugula.  The earlier planting of lettuce has been a wonderful success (we enjoyed two salads over the weekend) so I have high expectations for the additions.  But the seeds...  Everything is an experiment at this point, so it was worth picking out a few likely options and poking them into the soil.  Seeds, after all, are relatively cheap, and what do I have but time?  All that said, the days, these days, are cool -- even in the greenhouse -- and the nights are frosty indeed.  I remember gingerly babying the seeds planted last winter in our living room with warmers and carefully adjusted light fixtures.  Surely these, in the brisk foreshadowing of winter, wouldn't stand much of a chance, grow lights and moderating space heater notwithstanding. 

But just today, after seven days of careful observation, I detect an emergent green in the potting soil where the arugula was sown.  And though I dare not disturb even a particle of perlite, when I look carefully in the spinach bin I may well glimpse a hint of green peaking through there, as well. 

Even if it is a horticulturally suspect practice, I think there is something appropriate about planting seeds at the beginning of Advent -- the season of patient waiting...and hope, even when it is utterly naive. 

Meanwhile, the clock ticks, the calendar turns, and who knows what all might grow?