Titanarum

Counting down to 22 December 1.08am. The winter solstice. The turning point in my calendar. From then on a minute of light is gained every day. Very important, that. For plants. As a child my father drummed into me the importance of not planting seeds too early in the season. Why? Because the ratio of heat of light has to be just so for the plants to develop optimally. In practise this means that seeds grown on the window sill this time of year have little chance of becoming anything other than long legged youths. And we don’t want that. We want stocky and solid, stems that can hold their own weight and then some. And it’s all because there isn’t enough light to go around until February, March time. Of course, I won’t have the patience to wait until then. I know you’ve heard nothing but lazy excuses for my inactivity on the gardening front for weeks now but believe me, once I’m started I can’t stop. So what if my tomato seedlings are long and stroppy, so what if their fruits don’t get a prize at the annual horticultural show? What counts is making the seeds grow. No?