I feel your pain,Karen, and can commiserate: I am (was) the only one who gardens around me and I live in another small town. . but in the foothills in the bottom corner of NC, also zone 7a. I also start seed (this will be my second year)' last year, I had quite alot of surplus which my neighbors helped me with. Some of these neighbors have caught the gardening bug and are asking what I plan on starting this year. . and if I'll have extras! The near-by neighbors' flower gardens used to be neglected, forlorn stips of bare ground & weeds. . .many are now being attended!
I can't wait to get started this year! I'll have to get some able-bodied person to get down on their hands and knees, to retrieve my dis-assembled / stored grow stations. I'll start the last of February (8 weeks before my region's last frost) and will start: 20 or so different varieties of tomatoes, french marigolds, dwarf sunflowers, rainbow celosia and tidal wave petunias. (So far, I have two neighbors that hope for extra sunflowers.. . . . last year, my "sunbathing" tomatoes and other seedlings attracted alot of attrention.)
Last year, my surplus tomatoe plants graced some of my neighbor's back patios . . with all the rest taken by a neighbor to her senior citizen's center.
My new garden helper put my flower beds "to bed" in October; I pored over last year's garden catalogs and planned THIS year's gardens, estimating how many of each type plant etc. . and then (TRYOING to exercise patience) waited to order seed until AFTER Christmas (I ALMOST made it: I ordered on Christmas evening) and now have all but one type of seed on hand!! This month is for THINKING about who I can get to retrieve my gro set-ups, with early Feb for actually DOINg something about that. THEN it's go, go, GO!! PLANTING TIME!!
(See? Your not the only one who rambles!)
