Think Spring on a Winter's Day

by Karen Rose Smith


This morning I woke to a blanket of white over the deck off of my office and on the landscape beyond.  While the picture was beautiful, I am so looking forward to spring with its warmer temperatures and budding plants. 


As a matter of fact, just earlier this week I had spotted daffodils sprouting along a walkway in the backyard.  I felt hopeful and excited at this first sign of spring.  I hurried to the side of the house where I had planted a pussy willow bush a few years ago.  While not fully budding, I saw signs of growth that would soon be the first spring decorations brought inside from the garden.

I have also been feeling a touch of spring as I tend to the seedlings I planted a few weeks ago in the basement.  The petunias have now grown their second set of leaves and I have started to transplant them into larger peat pots.  They are under grow lights on seedling heat pads.  Each day I transplant a few more and water the trays.  They have to be started in January so that I can plant them mid May.  Soon I will be starting heirloom tomato seeds so they will be ready to plant in the garden after Memorial Day.   


With seedlings and potting soil, a surprise is never out of the question.  Occasionally a weed or sprouts of grass pop up alongside the seedlings.  But this year, one of the pots produced a much larger seedling that spiked my curiosity.  I left the young plant in the peat pot and it has grown quite a bit larger than my other petunia seeds.  I suspect it is a vine plant such as a cucumber, pumpkin or zucchini, but what still puzzles me is that the petunia seeds were tiny little dots and the vegetable seeds are much larger.  I would have noticed the difference when I planted the seeds. 


Where did the seed come from and what unexpected plant am I growing in my basement?  Any ideas?

I have gardens inside to nurture because the thought of petunias and tomatoes bring me the promise of spring.