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Marching down the garden trail

I’ve been planting some garden seeds. Getting my hands into the soil — even if it’s only the bagged kind — has been pure bliss.

I’ve been planting some garden seeds. Getting my hands into the soil — even if it’s only the bagged kind — has been pure bliss.

I’m thinking maybe it won’t be winter forever after all. Maybe spring really will come.

It always makes me giddy when I tear open that first pack of seeds.

There are so many possibilities in those tiny specks.

The tomato seeds are rationed out at only 25 to a pack.  Since I need about 100 transplants I carefully plant every single seed from all four packs and am thrilled when I discover they gave me three extra.

Some of the perennial packets come in such generous portions that I can’t begin to count them all.

The hard part is resisting planting every single one.

I may only have room for three mature plants but if I have 1,200 seeds I want to plant 1,200 seeds. Anything less seems wasteful.

Of course, if I did that with every package we would need a hundred plant stands and our place would have a hydro bill to rival a grow op.

And that would truly be wasteful.

But it’s so hard to open a package and only extract half a dozen measly seeds from such potential abundance. I feel like I’m committing green murder by not planting them all.

But if they only sent half a dozen seeds per package I’d be outraged at their stinginess. Sometimes there’s just no winning.

The best thing would be for gardeners to get together and trade seeds amongst themselves.

I’m guessing there are groups out there who do just that and if I ever get organized I just might find them. In the meantime, I put my extra seeds in the fridge in case next year I change my mind and decide I really do need 1,200 summer berry yarrow plants after all.

As usual my winter gardening has busted all the boundaries I buttressed into place last fall.

The problem with gardening on grid paper is that it takes so little effort.

I can plant an acre of perennials, trees and shrubs in the time it takes to sip a pot of tea.

Ponds and waterfalls are created with a mere flick of the pen. I’ve been at it long enough to know I’ll have bitter regrets come spring but I still can’t stop plotting out additions to my garden.

The ponds and the waterfalls probably won’t get dug, but I have discovered new ingredients for my vegetable garden that I just can’t resist giving a try.

Like quinoa. A week ago I didn’t even know it existed.

Now I don’t feel I can survive without a healthy row of it in my veggie patch.

Just in case I’m not the last person on Earth to have heard of it, quinoa (pronounced (KEEN-wah) may very well be one of Earth’s most complete foods.

It contains all eight essential amino acids, which sets it apart from all other plants.

It is high in fibre, riboflavin, calcium, vitamin E, iron, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, folic acid and beta carotene.

About the only thing it doesn’t have is gluten.

And it is ridiculously high in protein. That last bit caught my attention.

Maybe I don’t have what it takes to kill a turkey, but I have no problem with lopping off the head of a quinoa stalk and shaking it silly until its seeds fall off.

The seeds are cooked like rice and are said to promote weight loss, build muscle, reduce migraines and prevent diabetes, heart problems, breast cancer, asthma and gallstones.

Quinoa is considered a super antioxidant.

It was almost wiped out when the Spanish took over the New World.

Some stories say the Spanish destroyed quinoa crops because the Aztecs, Maya and Inca used them in religious ceremonies.

Others say the Spanish simply weren’t familiar with the crop and replaced them with things like barley and potatoes.

Fortunately enough plants continued to grow in the wild to prevent this unique and valuable food source from becoming extinct.

It grows best in dry, cool climates, which describes my garden to a tee.

It does require 90-plus days to mature but can be started indoors.

Or outdoors in the very early spring.

Apparently it won’t even germinate if the soil is too warm and I’ve got plenty of cold soil in the spring.

I think I’ll experiment and start some both ways.

If anyone out there has ever grown quinoa in their garden I would love to hear from them.

In the meantime you can find quinoa seed at most health food stores.

Shannon McKinnon is a humour columnist from the Peace River country.  You can read past columns by visiting www.shannonmckinnon.com.