It’s day 273 of January. As I lie in bed, trying to remember what that thing called sunshine looks like, I desperately dream of a better future; one filled with bees, cosmos, scents of phlox and dill wafting in the air. My hands brushing through the bobbing heads of briza, skipping through paradise in a floaty summer dress, all while carrying armfuls of colourful cut flowers. Oh January, you think it’s a distant dream don’t you? Well you’re wrong, bleak month, it exists! I’ve been there, and believe you me I’ll be in that flowery sunshine paradise again!
My dilemma of course during this seemingly endless month is the age old thing we all ponder: to sow or not to sow? That really is the question. I am now old enough and ugly enough to realise that January is indeed not the time to sow. Plan? Yes! Get seeds before they sell out? Absolutely! But sow summer seeds? Absolutely not! I am still haunted by my naive younger days of lockdown 2020 and 2021 where my far too eager self simply had to sow seeds in January despite all the advice. What a fool I was. I still have nightmares of my poor leggy seedlings desperately reaching for the light, becoming weak, yellow and fighting for their lives as their seedy brothers and sisters competed for nutrients, forced to stay in their pots far longer than nature intended. Their screams in the night “Mother! You did this to us!” still send shudders down my spine. I shall not go back. This is my wiser year, the one where I will remember to hang fire before sowing my seeds. I shall have the strongest, healthiest seedlings mother nature has seen, all because I decided to be patient. I am proud of myself. Unlike my January seeds of the past, I, as a person have grown. And should I find the desire to sow seeds just too strong to resist, I know there are just two things I can sow right now, and they are cobea and sweet peas. These are the exceptions to the rule. Absolutely everything else must wait.
As we enter the next eternal month of February, I will ensure I summon the powers of the universe to give me patience, but hurry. Gemma (aka: Colour Wheel Garden: https://www.instagram.com/colourwheelgarden/ )