Springs Eternal

The first seed catalog for the 2021 growing season arrived the week before the new year began. Half a dozen more showed up the following week. They herald the new beginning--one deeply more compelling than a day on our calendar.

The Diva cucumber might be a good choice, 58 days to harvest, a smaller variety.

My gardening practice--perfection elusive--is mostly a solitary effort, but I imagine thousands and thousands of fellow dirt-turners may be leafing through the pages as I do. Even many more most likely as home gardens during this pandemic reportedly blossomed well beyond previous seasons. 

Mix it up a bit. Maybe Nokya cucumber or Suyo Long? Or both.

I like to think of fellow gardeners thumbing along with me in their own good time. Folks in Salinas, Saltillo, Samrala, and Sarajevo, Savannah, Settat, and Seville, Shiraz, Sonoma.

Sugar Cube cantaloupe--80 days, personal size. Yes.

I dog-ear pages. So, too, I suppose others do. Quaint to some, no doubt, but a bookmarking as we do for web pages and YouTube videos. Like growing sweet potatoes in containers. 

Mahon Yam--but not a yam, 90 days.

Curious, to me at least, the widespread relief that 2020 is behind us. Yes, that old signifier, Janus, a passage, a doorway, but to my way of thinking, two-faced. The past not quite, the future uncertain.

Sakura might be a good cherry tomato--55 days and prolific. Early, too.

My students may recall--or very few may--A.E. Housman's speaker bemoaning a mere 50 springs to go and the cherry trees blooming specifically. One actuarial website sets my remaining springs around 15 or thereabout.

How we gardeners assess the future, what we choose to believe--well, so it goes. Me? I keep it as simple as I can. With or without my thumbs in the dirt, more springs will follow.