Spring Fever

It’s the middle of February in Idaho. In some places, that is early enough to start thinking about the snow melting and the sun shining and greenery pressing up through the ground. Here, the snow might not melt until May and the greenery knows better.

My fellow gardeners and I are busy ordering seeds and making plans. We convince ourselves it isn’t too early to start a few things (under the wood stove!), which can lead to an embarrassing situation down the road…when you have to admit to your stringy seedlings that you have nowhere to put them.

Nothing stops us though! This year I bought a packet of 85 day artichokes, and told myself I was ‘just trying them for fun’ and ‘I won’t be sad if they don’t make it’. But neither of those statements are true. I want artichokes. I don’t see why we can grow thistles like it’s our job but their delicious relatives can only overwinter in zone 7.

When the packet arrived it said 150 days instead of 85, although it was the same Imperial Star variety that I had ordered. Hmmm, Gurney’s. The packet went on to say that I needed to soak the seeds in peat moss for 2 weeks prior to planting (!) and then it would be another 10-21 days before germination.
PERFECT! The perfect excuse to break out the stack of seed spouting containers and ready the lights. It would be weeks before those little guys popped up, and I had better get them into their peaty home! I decided to start a few nasturtiums and some cress too, so the artichokes would not be lonely and maybe I’ll make the worlds tiniest salad in April! Then some broccolini went in and some herbs. And some cabbage. Because the chart in the back of Square Space Gardening was encouraging.

Four days later all six artichoke seeds sprouted. Welcome to the world, little guys. I’m going to have some bad news for you.