Vesey's Seeds

..... serving Canadian gardners since 1939.....

... seed catalogues. Last night, Lyse my neighbour dropped the Vesey's catalogue and I held it up to my face and inhaled deeply. It didn't smell the same though. It didn't smell of compost and smoke and wet damp soil.

Nevermind. I was five years old again, sitting in the shed with Paddy during a rain storm, looking through the seed catalogue. Paddy sitting on his tree stump smoking a Sweet Afton, me on an upturned bucket eating cola cubes, Bazz enthroned in the wheelbarrow, demanding a drive somewhere in it.

Paddy always focused on vegetables; cabbage, cauliflower, kale, onions, potatoes. I wanted to look at the flowers. I remember I had a thing about lupins. And sweet peas.

And snapdragons. I always wanted to buy snapdragons, because they were always part of the scenery in the Enid Blyton books I read when I was a child.

'Can I grow some flowers, Paddy, by myself?' I would always ask.

Last night I was marking seeds in the catalogue - onions, corn, beets, garlic, carrots and parsnips, peas and peppers and pumpkins. Rhubarb. Tomatoes.

The garden is dug out, we're just waiting for the frosty nights to end so we can plant.

Kitty wandered over for a look.

'Can I grow some flowers by myself?'

I had to laugh.