Boredom

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Hélène : 

December is a wonderful time we use to put on decorations, meet family and enjoy good food. But comes January and especially when the decorations are taken down, I feel the cold, the monochrome color of the snow... and my deep boredom from wanting to garden and seeing plants sprout!

 Of course, even in those times some gardener's tasks keeps me occupied. But once the magazines have been perused until abuse, seeds have been bought, garden plans have been made and old seeds have been tested - what is left to take this boredom away?

Well luckily, in the seed tests this year, a happy circumstance gave me the necessary inspiration! My lettuce seeds of last year are not only viable, they are vigorous! It took only 2 days for them to sprout. 

So to cure my boredom I prescribed to myself a solid dose of gardening. Everything was already in place anyway : My Grow-Light kit just needed to be turned on, my sprouting material was just asking to be filled with good soil and so my very vigorous lettuce seeds were planted the 16th of January. All of them were out by the 19th, 3 days later! February 9th (3 weeks later), I was replanting them in bigger, individual containers.

Picture taken when I was transplanting. You can recognize Oakleaf Lettuce by its form hinted by the name, it's also a paler green than the other two. However, between "Cimmaron" and "Merveilles des 4 Saisons" (Marvel of 4 Seasons), both of them tinged red, I don't yet see the difference and since I omit from tagging them, I'm at a loss. Maybe later on they'll develop distinctive qualities that will make them easier to recognize.

My gardening prescription was a thoughtful process (even if I forgot key part of it, like tagging the plants). Lettuce is a fast grower : Oakleaf only takes 40 to 50 days to maturity, I will have 3 heads of them around the first of March. Marvel of 4 Seasons, according to Solana (all these different lettuces come from them, by the way), will reach maturity between 45 and 55 days, so they will be ready at the beginning of March too, a tad later than Oakleaf. Finally, the last one, Cimmaron, will arrive at 70 days, pushing itself at the end of March, the exact time where I'm supposed to start my tomato plantings.

Not only that : Having such an easy edible plant to grow in the middle of winter is such a boon for the bored gardener! It reminds her she still have her green thumb just waiting for the weather to warm up!

And now...

Part of those lettuces are ready!

The 3 heads at the back are the Oakleaf; the next 3 ones, Marvel of 4 Seasons and the last one at left is Cimmaron. Oakleafs are ready, Marvels too!