When attention is given to earth’s soil, all else falls away. With focus away from media-based news, the gardener’s problems become immediate and doable. As March marches on, thoughts turn to seed packets. What to plant, when to plant, how to plant are the the main problems. Who can think about terrorism, murder, movie starlets, business, sports etc. Yes, the weather report maybe, but the weather isn’t a problem to solve. The weather is the weather. “After soil is free of frost” is says on my packet of spinach seeds.

I’ve sifted some compost to dress the beds, raked them smooth. Just looking at a bed ready for seed solves the worlds’ problems. I stake out the spinach rows with marking line and sticks. Thoughts of mature spinach leaves all in a row is akin to peace time all over the world.read more

Compost sifting is also a big problem solver. I use a wheel barrow and half inch screen box on top and scrape mixed soil. The process calls for all my attention. I pull out sticks and see fertile soil fall through the screen. I am not thinking about theft, drug busts, or car crashes. I am thinking how satisfying it is to have taken vegetable kitchen scraps and turned them into a top dressing. Seeing a few worms as I sift, I gently pick them out and return them to the pile. “Get back to work” I’m thinking.

Spreading the sifted soil requires problem solving. How to distribute it evenly from what I have is another problem to solve. It always works out. Now it’s time to furrow and plant. Using the string as a guide, I use my special 2 x 2 inch stake with a diagonal end. Here again, total concentration is necessary. No chance of famine or migrants, obituaries or movie reviews. I point the stick on the line and walk slowly to make the furrow. Just the sight of an even row is thrilling.

Now it’s time to plant. I use a foam knee pad and carefully pour white spinach seeds into the palm of my hand from Johnny’s Seed Company in Maine. I chose Kookaburra, F1 Hybrid Savoyed spinach packets two months ago after studying the catalog. I never order a single packet. This time three will do, to plant a fall crop and a cold frame crop to extend spinach harvests well in snow on the ground just for the contrast, just to be smug and brag that we are steaming home-grown spinach in January.

Packet instructions say ten seeds per foot. In the past, I’ve impulsively dropped seed to haphazardly. This time, I will sow slowly and as evenly as possible visualizing rows of perfect plants evenly spaced. I’m harvesting beauty, just like the pictures in a seed catalog. It is tempting to get this job done quickly. I have to fight my impulsive nature to hold one seed at a time. Just the sight of these white slightly uneven globular seeds on dark soil is enough to take me far beyond the news of the day. “This is the news” I think.

Once the row is planted, I check and straighten errant seeds. Now comes the pat-pat stage which I love. “Clip small leaves in 3 to 5 weeks. II can taste steamed spinach with a pat of butter already. Pat down brings the seeds into close contact with soil. I imagine slow penetration of water into the seed coat as the seeds slowly expand. I use a felt tipped pen to mark the date and in capital letters SPINACH. It is highly unlikely that I’ll find any spinach news in today’s papers or news shows. I’ll be looking for the first two leaflets that look like the propellers of small aircraft.