Arugula Weather

The gardening bug has definitely bitten. I am anxious awaiting the arrival of a Burpee seed shipment and some red wigglers for my worm composter. I didn't plant much of a garden last year, although 2 years ago I did a bit more. I tried worm composting but found that it produced a frustrating abundance of flies. So the worm composter has been sitting unused for a long time, producing vague low-level guilt, and waiting for me to feel up to starting again. I'm not sure exactly what to do to make this time better -- the only tips I've seen involve using more paper, but I suspect the lack of a good seal between my mud room and the outside world is the true culprit.

Last night I tried seeding two flats worth of little peat pots using dirt and seeds I had lying around -- if they don't sprout, at least I've used up the old seeds. I think I picked them up 2 years ago at a post-season sale at Home Depot. We'll see how it goes. I like starting plants from seeds, despite the effort and uncertainty involved, but the minute I walk into a garden store, it sure seems like plants start jumping into my cart. The HP Garden Fair is another form of kryptonite; it is hard to pass up the heirloom & Illinois-hardy varieties that they seem to specialize in. But every time I fork over the same amount for a single plant that I'd pay for a whole packet of seeds, I regret not at least trying to do seedlings.

Today we popped over to the garden to plant a few direct-sow seeds (the intervention of 4 small children tended to negate my careful row-planning, but we may get spinach, peas, arugula, and carrots despite that -- probably in thick clumps and all on top of each other) and attended the general garden meeting. The main items of interest are the coming of new amenities (electricity! porta-potty!) and the potential of establishing more plots by developing another garden. All of the garden people seem to be very nice. Our dirt is in such nice shape that I don't think we will have much to do other than keep the weeds down for the next few days while we wait to see if anything will sprout. The Internets tell me that arugula will sprout in 5 days or so if the weather is in the 40-55 degree range.

Everyone wants it to hurry up and get warm, but now I'm in no hurry. It sounds like Chicago is having arugula weather :).