It was finally time to plant my seeds! The winter seemed especially long and wet, but spring had finally come. It was still too cold at night to plant out some varieties of flowers and vegetables, but I still had my seed trays from last year. One clear plastic dome had broken and the other banged around by high winds but the two trays and one lid, along with some soapy water were ready for their new assignment. I couldn’t get any fine seed starting compost—I was simply happy my friend brought me some regular compost. I filled the cells with the fresh compost and “delicate” seeds—yellow beans, purple beans, courgettes, tomatoes, basil. Their flowery companions in process are mimulus, morning glory, nemesia, and petunia. Since I have a lot of mauve wallflowers still blooming from the autumn, plus a swathe of bright yellow volunteers, I decided at the last to leave them unplanted for now.
The hard seeds of morning glories have to soak overnight but the extra step is worth it. I hope they do well; my husband and I love to see their intensely blue, almost purple show each morning. I’ve planted them at nearly every home we’ve had.
Morning Glory Joan C. Thomson pastel
Last year’s seedlings didn’t fare well having dried out while I travelled, but since I won’t be travelling during the pandemic, I’ll be able to keep an eye on them.
Some of the seeds, such as the yellow, and purple beans and courgettes were large while the mimulus were tiny—each producing its own kind.
Jesus talked a lot about seeds since life, the life he created in the Beginning, began in a
Increase Seed Joan C. Thomson
garden. He said faith can be compared to a tiny black mustard seed—a black dot that grows into a massive plant that’s the largest of garden plants. I’ve seen pictures of mustard plants towering over men’s heads—up to ten feet high! It’s not that it takes such a small amount of faith to accomplish, since Jesus often chided his disciples for having “little faith;” it’s the proportion of the tiny seed to the massive plant. It’s the little seed “that could.” So many hundreds, even thousands of tiny black dot seeds are borne by each huge plant that if each one spread and dropped its seeds into favourable earth there would be a forest! I read that the black mustard could so easily take over a garden, they were outlawed in Israel in Jesus’ day. Wow! That’s big faith! What if we had proportionate faith like that? What if we really took Jesus at his word? Might things that are wrong change for the right?
A couple of weeks later, my seedlings are up and straining for the sun coming from the three windows that surround them. Spraying them with water a couple of times each day keeps them growing.
What flower, vegetable or herb seeds are you planting? Are you having trouble buying seeds during the lockdown in your country? Are you planting any “seeds of faith?”
A Leafy Journal 