And I meant
Every word I said

When I said that I loved you I meant that I loved you forever

​
Valentine's Day. A Christian compromise of Lupercalia, the Pagan festival of fertility that fell in the middle of February. I am not squeamish, but if you are interested in what Lupercalia involved, I am going to leave it to you to google it yourself. Whilst I am not suggesting any of the sacrifices or the whipping or the 'random couplings' would appeal to a modern day audience, you cannot deny that there is some inkling of a sap rising in the middle of this month. 

It is still more of an inkling than an actual surge. I am writing this less than four feet away from a blazing wood burner. I went to work in no fewer than six layers the other day. Our bed is barely visible under the pile of blankets needed to keep out the chill and the spaniel has taken to burrowing under the covers at night rather than sleeping at our feet curled up like a cat. My sourdough starter is sluggish and more often than not, there is a simmering pot of squash soup on the hob. It is blowing a gale and the windows are glittery with raindrops.

The forecast predicted that the worst would pass today. That the temperature would be, if only single figures, at least positive ones. I am not convinced though. Spring is like good compost; you feel it in your bones and in your soul. Whatever the forecast, I am holding off until I feel the flutter in my chest, the warmth spread along my arms and into my fingers, and a spring returns to my step. Not a single seed shall be sown until I can smell growth on the breeze.

Another reason for waiting is that I am holding out for the snow moon. In the UK at least, the next full moon is the 27th of February and I am planning on making the best use of the few days before it. It is said that the waxing phase sets the conditions for the seeds for their lifetime as plants, giving vigour and energy. No, I'm not totally sure I buy it either so I will be doing lots of trials about which seeds planted when do the best. To give each of them a fair shot, I do at least have to wait until the air has started to warm up a bit.

And so what am I doing whilst I am endlessly waiting for the moment I can finally get inside? It turns out there is one seed related activity that can bring great joy right now. Germination testing. I have had a jar of Scabiosa 'Black Knight' in amongst the coffee mugs and tea cups since I harvested them in October. The optimal conditions for keeping seeds happy in their dormant stage are cool and dry. I cannot recommend that you leave them next to a range cooker (warm) or above a disturbingly frequently boiled kettle (damp). I adore the sculptural, tactile shapes of them and they gave me hope of potential growth during this long, grinding, monotonous winter so I was happy to keep them as a low maintenance sort of house pet and accept that they probably wouldn’t be viable when the spring came. Nine days in and I have 90% viability and I still haven’t given up hope for the last seed. More importantly than that, I have life.

You will need:

• Kitchen paper

• Small, sealable plastic bag,

• Water, preferably in a sprayer

1.  Lay the paper out flat. Use the sprayer to moisten the paper so that it is comprehensively wet, but not soggy or dripping. Lay 10 seeds in a zigzag on the paper, 1cm from the top and 2cm from the sides.

2. Fold the tissue over, bringing the bottom edge to the top.

3. Roll into a sausage.

4. Place in a small plastic bag and leave in a warm place for a week or two (depending on the seed). I really really struggle with this, and I do keep unpacking them and checking, but I do not recommend this, as they dry out and generally get disturbed.

5. Remove from plastic bag, unroll and unfold tissue. If you would like a germination rate, times the number of germinated seeds by 10.

If the germination rate is low, you will need to sow more seeds to get the number of plants you want. However, don’t be tempted to sow the seed really thickly, if lots do come up, they will really struggle. Maybe do two seed trays instead of one.