Sweet Time

My internal summer may not be invincible, but the seed catalogues certainly are.

The Viking and I decided to call this a weekend off, and have been luxuriating in our sloth. Well, perhaps not luxuriating so much as taking our own sweet time getting things caught up. Yesterday the Viking did some much needed clean-up in his shop. I worked on more sewing projects and drank coffee and watched the snow flurries fall.

The hangerock is finished, and the Viking is positively giddy at the possibility of seeing me wear Norse kit at an event. A cote which I actually started before I was Laurelled is now finished save hemming. I dug it out and took it to fighter practice on Friday, and put in the last eyelet yesterday morning. This one is a creamy off-white damask in an acanthus-leaf pattern. It has short sleeves so I can wear it more comfortably under the Burgundian gowns, but with a chemise beneath and possibly some pinned-on oversleeves I should be able to wear it as a tourney dress as well. Next I think I am going to tackle an oak-leaf dagged hood, which is something I have wanted for a while. Unless of course I chicken out again.

We are close to having a site for the October event nailed down. Next project: a head cook.

Today the Viking is going to hang some fluorescent lights over the ill-designed cupboard I am using as a potting bench so I have a place to grow up seedlings. The last couple of years I have been focussing on bulbs and shrubs, so this year I am going to put my efforts into perennials. I have a few I've added already, of course, but as of the moment, there's not much which does anything interesting after mid-June, other than the daylilies.

The hardest parts are deciding (1) what I want to grow, really, and (2) what's better bought from a nursery than started from seed. The first problem is the direct result of my magpie tendencies. Ooh! Pretty! Must collect! This ends in more plants than are aesthetically right and I really need to learn to restrain myself.

The second problem is compounded by seed companies that insist that everything is easy to start from seed. Thompson & Morgan have a coding system which tells you about the ease or difficulty of starting any given variety, but the catalogue doesn't give much information about the specific requirements of the difficult ones. If it's a matter of sticking the seed packet in my freezer for three months (as seems to be the case with most of the Helleborus species), that's within the capabilities of my current equipment. Very specific soil temperatures, for example, however, are not.

Ever hear of Stonehaven? You should.

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