“One of the healthiest ways to gamble is with a spade and a package of garden seeds.” Dan Bennett (writer)

I am at it again. I am succumbing once again to my hopeless addiction. I am going to order garden seeds today. Once the snow melts and the strengthening sun warms the earth, I will shove my spade deep in the black heavy soil of my garden and I will plant my garden. Once again I will bet on the certainty of God multiplying those handfuls of seeds into bushels of tomatoes, carrots and beans.

I will confidently expect tall plants to arise from row after row of sometimes microscopic seeds. I am already anticipating the scrumptious summertime meals of green beans, new potatoes and cucumbers drowning in creamy sauce. I am counting on a bumper crop of raspberries to make plenty of jam and enough to make the special coffee cake made with almonds, fresh raspberries and a very special hint of spicy mace. I am imagining the burst of juicy sweet sour flavor in my mouth as I pop in the first cherry tomatoes of the summer. I can just smell the fragrant herbs and flowers that will grace each garden bed. All of my summer dreams originate in the heart of a seed.

I sent my Burpee order off today, so the gamble is on. I am going to plant old favorites this year, as well as gamble on a few new things.

My seed starting experiment last year paid off so well that I am going to do it again. I learned some things, and I will do some things differently. The trays with my garden “bets” will go in the south window of the living room this year, because I think it will increase my odds of coming out on top. It was just too cold for my baby plants down in my furnace room even with grow lights hovering over them.

I sent for some geranium seeds this year, and I am gambling on raising enough plants to fill my front porch pots and possibly some on my back deck. I spend enough on geraniums every summer that it is worth risking some money on this experiment. And what a find – there was a packet called Geranium border mix on the “flower bargain list” for only $1.50. I am anxious to try my hand at geraniums.

I am going to go for snapdragons again this year because I have fallen in love with these old fashioned favorites. They make me feel very nostalgic, so I believe there must have been snapdragons somewhere in my past. Maybe my grandmother had them in her garden.

It is pricey to invest in perennial plants such as delphiniums and rudbeckias and cone flowers, so I am going to gamble some money on these seeds. If I can get even a handful of plants to make it to the garden, it will be worth it.

So the challenge is laid out for another year. It is a risk to shell out a chunk of money now when the snow is still 2 feet deep all over my garden. But it is a healthy gamble, and knowing the incredible miracle that God has put in each tiny seed. He has personally proven to me over and over again that he can make good on his promise of life in each one. I think this gamble is a safe one. God will provide the sun, rain and the magic of life in his seeds. And I will get to reap the rewards. 

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