Day #2 of Planting My Winter Garden 2009:

I bet any mother out there could relate to the crazy day I've had!! First, it starts out with the discovery that my husband has taken all of my sets of car keys with him to work. Not only does this leave me stranded without a car, but it leaves me stranded without a stroller because we store it in the trunk. After dealing with that fiasco and resolving it, thanks to my parents letting me borrow their car and stroller (What would we do without grandparents?!), I rushed off to my 16 week doctors appointment, then headed to my garden to plant leafy greens, and finally zipped over to the market, since the family has to eat this week(and of course that is my weekly responsibility)! Needless to say, I'm exhausted!

But in order to stay true to this experiment, I made it to my garden to plant my Chard. Luckily, this is the only leafy green I have room for right now. In two months (at Chard's harvest time), I might replace it with Kale or Lettuce.

The zodiac constellation in the sky today is Cancer, although my Western Astrology Ephemeris says it has moved into Leo. Cancer is a water sign and so keeping to the Biodynamic Planting and Sowing calendar, water signs are the day to plant leafy greens. Logically that makes sense, when you think of what they are mainly made up of, it's water.

Now, I bought a larger start of 3 chard plants because that is all they had at the nursery. Last winter I did my Chard from seed. It took a while to mature, but it was well worth it. Maybe in the spring, I'll do some from seed again. But for now, I'm working with good size starters, which should make the process to our table faster and easier.

I planted the Chard with the spiritual intention to give myself and my family energy. May it build our iron and keep us charged. And, I do have to say, that although most of the day felt like a chore, this part of my day did not. It was like the one break I had. My neighbor at the garden also made my day by cutting 3 gorgeous roses and handing them to me. Yummy! They are sitting in a vase in my bedroom as I write.


I have visually documented my planting today in the next post, with step-by-step pictures. Enjoy!