A sure sign of spring is a solarium filled with little green sprouts. The season is on. These days I am busy patting down soil mixture, misting baby sprouts or transplanting to larger pots once the first leaves appear.
Starting a garden from seed is glorious work. Everything is so easy and comfortable. Inside the solarium the temperature is perfect. There are no cold winds. Coats are not required. There are no pesty bugs irritating me. Unlike typical gardening I don’t have to squat, lift or bend to pull weeds. For the most part I am comfortably sitting at a table dropping tiny seeds into prepared holes or standing over my plants at waist level.
I’m fascinated by the germination process. Some of my sprouts are growing so fast that they change hourly. Nature is indeed a miracle.
In honour of their gift to me, I have written a short poem.
New Green
Willed by timeless forces
Hope nuzzles its way through the soil
And emerges bright green
Tiny and new, a living filament stretches up towards the light
Two cotyledons unfold
Claiming their space in the world
westlakemusings 
What are you sprouting?
I am mostly sprouting heritage tomatoes. I have a variety:
Tegucigalpa – a thin skinned plum tomato, long thin, tapered fruit that looks kind of like a hot pepper, excellent flavour, wispy foliage. Good for canning
Heidi’s White – super Snow White, Germaine heirloom. Slightly flattened creamy white fruit. Sweet
Ground Cherry – not really a tomato Great for pies
Ludmilla Plum – very meaty, very large plum shaped tomato
San Marzano – fat plum
Rose de Berne – pink. Smaller size which makes them good for a sandwich. Sweet, few seeds
I also have hundreds of dusty miller plants, Swedish ivy, cosmos, a few early zinnias, several sunflowers and my neighbours hot peppers.
Oh and chives and a banana plant
I have lots more seeds but those will be directly sowed in the garden after the threat of frost has passed. Lots more zinnias, cosmos, pumpkin, morning glory, sun flower etc etc.