Sowing Seeds and Keeping Notes

I started planting a yearly vegetable garden about 20 years ago while I was living in Toronto when My Big Girl was just a baby.  My Toronto and then Montréal potagers were always successful, supplying us with tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, beans, bok choy, herbs, strawberries, asparagus, cucumbers, swiss chard and chives over the years.  However, my vegetable garden here in Québec City has never been as abundant and healthy, even though for the last seven years I have lovingly taken care of the soil in the Spring and nourished the plants throughout the growing season.

This year, I’ve decided to take a different route.  I’m going to continue growing some vegetables in parts of my garden and in large pots for our patio, but I’m now going to create a cutting flower garden.  According to Erin, it doesn’t require acres of land to grow a cutting garden that will supply weekly bouquets of fresh flowers for one’s home (and extras to give as gifts!).

With supplies in hand, inspiration from a few cherished gardening books, and important information obtained from the Farmer’s Almanac,  I started sowing seeds for delphiniums, a variety of sweet peas, lupins, larkspur, zinnias, hollyhocks and blue thistle. I’m excited to see what my little garden grows …