Photo Shoot: Starting plants from seeds is like playing the lottery
Gardening has much in common with buying a lottery ticket. Plunk down a couple of bucks, buy a packet of seeds or a Powerball ticket, and wait. Your chances of winning in the garden are greater, but luck still must be on your side for a photo-worthy crop. Mother Nature has a variety of slings and arrows to aim at the home gardener, weather, bugs and varmints, just to name a few. The wisdom of years can help prevent repeated mistakes, and hope springs eternal when shaking out a tiny batch of seeds into your palm for the start of another season. By the time the calendar moves to double-digit months, the proof is always there at harvest time.
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The two crops I gamble on yearly are carrots and morning glory vines. I used to start both from seed. Following directions on the morning glory seed packet was always unnerving. The grower is requested to file a nick on the casing and soak overnight before starting them indoors three months before the last frost. Several years of trying this yielded very low odds. Now, a stop at the garden center in late May gives better results.
As for the carrot seeds, so tiny for this fumbling old farmer. I tried seed tape this year. Sure enough, about the time the morning glory plants went in, carrot seedlings were all sprouted in a straight row, ready for thinning. Unfortunately, one of the neighborhood rabbits did the thinning. Time to replant another row of tape, pushing back harvest time.
Summer came and went, the morning glory vines, climbed up and over the lamppost, and quickly outgrew the small trellis by the garage. A kite string was tied off up to the gutter. The plants responded by late September, covering a good section of the front wall. One problem, only lavish green foliage, not a bloom in sight. October arrived and almost departed with an occasional bloom. Two weeks ago, it became a breakout season, a few cold nights, plenty of rain, who knows what brought out the blooms. Each early morning departure to work presented a sea of blue to cheer on the day.
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The flower is a photographer’s dream, close or far away, always something new to see. As for carrots, three stalks are all that remain, but it’s almost harvest time. The morning glories went out in a show of glory with on overnight Friday frost, taking them down, a few stubborn blooms remain heading back to Eastern Standard Time over the weekend. Two early gifts from November, an extra hour of sleep, a few flowers from summer 2023.
Steve Heaslip is the Times' chief photographer. Contact him at sheaslip@capecodonline.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @cctphoto.
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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Photo Shoot/Steve Heaslip: Gardening can be like playing the lottery
