dream time.

It is dark, cold and gray outside - but I've been dreaming. Dreaming about the garden. This time of year is for planning and plotting and reading and dreaming.


I sit with notebooks, seed catalogs, books and magazines. I peruse with a morning cup of tea in hand, at night when everyone is in bed (but me), or whenever I have a few minutes.


I catalog the seeds I still have. Look at notes of what worked/didn't work last year. Plan how to expand growing area in our tiny full yard. Sketch trellises, tripods, containers, vertical lines, and raised beds.


I make lists of what seeds to buy. Think about seed starting calendars and timelines - about cold frames, water barrels, rain gardens and herbs. I read about bed rotations and companion planting.


And while it is dark, gray and cold outside, I envision the lush green, the vines, the soil. I remember the hot summer nights watering, picking and weeding. I remember the bees, the praying mantises, the birds.


I wonder how I can fit in more flowers, more herbs, more color, more fragrance, and still grow more food (in so little space!). I remember little hands helping me plant, dig, water, harvest.


I think about the baskets of juicy tomatoes we had last summer. Colanders full of herbs, vegetables and fruit. I want to try new varieties, new flavors, new textures, new colors.

So while it may be a dark, gray and cold mid-winters day, there is a bit of my summer garden right here in my head.


What are you doing different this year in your garden? Expanding? Trying new things? What is inspiring you right now?