THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 5, 1995 TAG: 9503030131
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
When it comes to my garden, hope springs eternal in late winter.
I dip into Shepherd's Garden Seeds catalog on a cold, blustery day and anything's possible.
This summer, I dream, I shall have yellow peppers as brilliant and meaty as those on the catalog cover.
Nasturtiums will come tumbling from my window boxes, a riot of color like the flowers around an English country cottage.
Several varieties of basil - piccolo and broadleaf, purple and cinnamon - will fill my beds with fragrance.
That's just a few of my dreams for the garden this summer. Right now, I can picture every flower and vegetable, where each will go and what it will look like.
However, deep down I know that I don't have enough sun for a plump yellow pepper to develop fully. I also know from summers of experience that nasturtiums don't like my window boxes and the leaves will turn yellow and wilt.
And it is well into the summer and usually with a second crop before I can defeat the fluffy white bugs that love my basil as much as I do. Only the hardiest variety makes it through this annual siege.
But my psyche doesn't listen to those warnings now. This year, as I tell myself every year, things will be different. And every year at the beginning of the season, I'm guiled into thinking things really are different.
The delusions of grandeur began a couple of weeks ago when the lettuces, spinach, arugula and cress seeds arrived from Shepherd's. Simply opening the package was inspiring. As each packet fell out on the kitchen counter, I could see rows of tender greens sprouting in the raised bed outside.
I am planting the seeds now and they will come up beautifully. I know that. The seedlings I will start in the sunny window will pop into view right on time, too.
Filled with self-satisfaction, I will soon begin to survey my postage stamp yard and the little plants in the window every morning. I will water a little, weed a little and thin a little, picking succulent young sprouts for wonderful salads every night. The joys of gardening, I will tell myself, and smile.
Soon I will put six-packs of other vegetables and annuals out in the yard. And they too will look wonderful for awhile, freed from the constraints of their tiny plastic pots.
But from then on, it all will be downhill. I know the cotton aphids will arrive, soon to be joined by the potato bugs that come calling to lay their eggs on those juicy young leaves. The plants will become tattered and misshapen.
By then the trees, which always surprise me by growing larger every year, also will be in full leaf. The garden will be too shady for even the most determined of peppers.
That's when I begin to vow, ``Never again.'' How come I never learn?
THOUGH THE TOPICS ARE WAY OUT OF MY LEAGUE, the gardening programs at the Tidewater Horticultural Symposium from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday at Norfolk Academy sound fascinating.
They are: Enhancing Your Garden with Colored Foliage, Minimizing Maintenance: Borders for Busy People, Garden Ornaments: Pitfalls and Pleasures, and the Evening Garden: Fragrance and Lighting.
The registration fee for Garden Pleasures, Garden Treasures is $40 and includes a box lunch. Call 491-6884 for more information.
The Evening Garden appealed to me. I began to think that soft lighting in my garden might be the answer to the unmet expectations of summer. The topic also reminded me that I always wanted to grow moonflowers. They bloom at night with a wonderful fragrance and are visited by the beautiful hummingbird moth.
As I write, I am picking up the phone to call Shepherd's to order a packet of moonflower seeds. I can picture beautiful white flowers opening in the evening and the hummingbird moths that will visit them to feed.
And my midwinter dreaming goes on.
P.S. GARDENING IS ON EVERYBODY'S MIND. Organic Gardening by Duane Harding and Gardening for Butterflies by Jeanne Petterson are two of many programs offered this spring by Kempsville Discovery.
Kempsville Discovery, which takes place on Wednesday mornings through March 29, at Community United Methodist Church, also features program topics such as history and travel. The cost is $8 for the series of programs and $20 if you wish to stay for lunch afterward. Call 495-1885 or 495-1021.
LYNNHAVEN HOUSE will hold a coffee for prospective docents at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. Docent training will begin March 14. For more information about becoming a volunteer tour guide at the historic house, call 456-0351.
A SENIOR CITIZEN BUS TOUR of Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge will take place from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Friday. Call 721-2412 for reservations. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net.
ILLUSTRATION: Every gardener's dream: vegetables that look as good as the ones
on the cover of this catalog.
by CNB