Ordering Seeds

It's amazing how fast things can come unglued. In mid-September, I had everything under control, with my work, school, family, nursery, and church responsibilities carefully, if tightly, scheduled. Or so I thought. Then a family member experienced a health crisis, and that took the place of school, family, and nursery for the next 6 weeks. Thankfully, the health crisis ended reasonably well, the family event (a wedding!) went off without a hitch, I finished my paper for school, and the Christmas concert went well. And then I crashed for a while.

My husband did all the shopping and most of the cooking this year. He set up the tree, but I never managed to get the ornaments on it. I did hang the stockings--on Christmas eve. I've spent the past week taking care of family obligations and doing the pre-intensive reading for my January class--until today.

Today, I finished the reading, and, as I usually do this time of year, have been planning for the next garden season. Lessons learned from last year?

• Fewer off-the-wall varieties
• Mulch garden plot more and earlier
• Improve infrastructure: 
• automatic watering
• larger greenhouse
• Plan popup locations in the city
• Marketing on-line and in-print

I ordered seeds today, which always gives me a sense of hope. I need some hope. Last year was hectic, exhausting, and humbling. But it is nearly past, and a new year dawns in a few hours. So, I'm taking stock, establishing priorities, making plans for my year, just like for the garden. In more ways than one, I'm ordering seeds.

What about you? What seeds are you ordering for next year?

Nancy