Clover, other forgotten seeds
It doesn’t take long to fill a one-bedroom house with a medium-amount of extra stuff.
When I was very busy with work, my living room became a dumping ground for things that had accumulated in my car. My job is to be host and shepherd for educators visiting Chico from other countries. When our group was in town for six weeks, I was exhausted each day when I got home. My pile of stuff didn’t get much further than right inside the door.
Partially full boxes of N-95 masks, boxes of granola bars, cases of bottled water, clipboards, dry erase pens and loose paperwork — good thing I don’t have a “junk room” or I could have tucked things away until they became antiques.
After the teachers flew home, a friend from out of town agreed to help me with some around-thehouse tasks that required more than my one set of hands. The plan included warming up some pizza and singing songs while he played the guitar.
Michael said it would be no problem to reaffix the tarp over the picnic table and put some putty in the window frame. His visit also gave me the push I needed to tackle that pile in the middle of the living room.
The living room, you see, is where a good host sleeps on a cot when a friend is in town.
If you’ve ever cleaned out the trunk of your car (which Michael and I did recently), the experience can be like unwrapping gifts from and to yourself. I found my river sandals, my umbrella and Kara’s long-lost sweatshirt.
The same rediscovery was true of the pile in the living room. Just when I needed them, I found the bags of hyacinth bulbs and daffodils, as well as that box of seeds.
The seeds soon distracted me from the mound at hand, and I spent a lovely day working in my garden. It’s a good time to plant kale, don’t you know, and I found kale seeds in that box in the living room.
A quick review of Cornell University’s gardening site confirmed that kale seeds will germinate in soil temperatures from 45-85 degrees Fahrenheit. Most types of lettuce will do about the same.
Last year I planted carrots, but due to the drought, most of those seeds were duds. One carrot grew into an amazing, multiseeded flower, which I also tucked into a plastic bag for a future rainy day.
Soon, I had forgotten about my plans for a houseguest and any other care in the world. Likely, my mind just really needed some time to unwind.
Weeds can’t wait, and something was growing in that bare patch along the side of my mostlydead lawn. I went a bit crazy with the hoe, until some Bermuda grass dared me to a duel. It was time to plant kale when I discovered a bag of clover seeds.
Those sprouts I had attacked with the hoe were likely clover seeds that had sprung to life with the recent rains. Rather than be disappointed with myself, I realized my joy of gardening often is in the doing rather than the results.
I remembered my plan to replace the drought-tortured lawn with some drought-tolerant clover. Overgrown clover can become beefriendly if flowers bloom. Another bonus is that clover can help fix