Unless there are some unexpected surprises, I expect to retire in six years and seven months. Because Kali and I live in a house provided by my employer, we will have to move when I retire--an opportunity to relocate to the mountainous West, we hope. We've got many friends who are getting older and downsizing, so it's not unreasonable to begin to downsize ourselves right now in anticipation of our move; six years pass amazingly quickly.
Over the weekend, I was in the basement cleaning out files and came across a paper bag full of vegetable and flower seed packets that I had accumulated over the years. I'm dumping the unplanted seeds into a collective paper bag, which I'll take to the compost heap when I've finished the task. I'm recycling the paper seed packets.
I know, I know--some of the seeds may be viable, but in my experience, seed viability diminishes quickly for garden seeds, so I'm not going to bother to pot-up the seeds and then be disappointed when germination is spotty or nonexistent. And, In fact, that's part of my point in posting this blog entry.
Some of the seed packets date back as far as 1997. Back then, I planted lots and lots of annuals with the garden vegetables every year. My garden was half vegetables and half annuals, and it was beatuiful, but labor intensive.
Now, I have a sad perennial garden that's overrun with weeds, into which I fit a few tomato plants each spring. How did I ever find the time to create this extravagant annual flower garden 14 years ago--at a time when I was also still running at least three evenings a week? I'm 14 years older, discouraged by the incessant press of weeds, groundhogs and deer, and I have a lot less physical energy (I naively never imagined this would happen to me). It all contributes to diminished expectations in my life in general.
2 comments:
Yep, I've got a box of seeds, that are all long past expiry, but I haven't the heart to toss them - perhaps you have inspired me to do so.
Funny how our priorities change with age. I'm finding quite a few things that seemed so important and necessary a few years back, are slowly sliding the back burners. Some I miss, some not.
Gardener: I had the same mindset as you, which is why (1) I've got a big sack of opened seed packets and (2)I couldn't bring myself to part with them, even when they're 14 years old and have near zero likelihood of germinating. Try tossing them--it's cathartic! You're absolutely right--priorities do change.
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