deviations

Earlier this winter (that seems so strange to type as most of our winter has been spring/fall temps) our neighbor gave us a huge bag of persimmon seeds. Evidently Bobby's uncle had planted a persimmon tree near the mailbox, and the new homeowner, knowing that it will likely be cut down in all the upcoming construction, said all many of the seeds from the fruit this year. So my dearest husband looked up instructions online on how to properly tend the seeds. The seeds have been in refrigeration for the last six weeks, as instructed, and today I'll pull them out and put them in water to soak for two days. But from that point on, I'm seriously contemplating deviating from the instructions.

The instructions call for planting the seeds directly in the ground, then as they grow into seedlings, thin them out, then the 2nd autumn, thin the row out again according to the number of trees you want to keep.

Umm, dear nursery people...not everyone has a nursery, or space for planting rows upon rows of seedlings on a hill that teenagers (or an older woman) might not see while going downhill on a riding lawnmower at breakneck speed.

So I'm thinking I might plant one or two on the fence line and mark the spot. The rest I'm considering planting in pots and sticking in the old dog pen until they develop. Except now that I'm reading the instructions for a second time, it says to plant in spring or early fall. I don't think we're anywhere near spring yet.

Now that I've purchased two bags of potting mix that are currently propped up in my kitchen driving us crazy and have been mentally prepping what I need to do and how to get all this done without making too big of a mess or creating even the slightest temptation for the dogs or chickens, I realize I've gotten way too far ahead of myself.

New item on my schedule for today...move these bags of soil to the shed and the seeds to a different section of the refrigerator.