This story begins with a conversation that took place in early September of this year, when I called the El Paso County Extension office.
I needed to talk to a master gardener.
You see I was in a bit of a panic.
I couldn’t imagine making my gardening way through 2017 without having zinnias.
It may seem hard to understand, but it was the last bridge too far in a year of monumental changes.
Here is what happened when I made that phone call.
Me: “Hi- we’re new to El Paso, and I wanted to plant zinnia seeds in raised beds this week, and I need to get some information.”
Him: “Oh dear- I am afraid it is too late in the year. “
Me: “But I need to do this…I haven’t gone a year without planting zinnias in years.”
Him: “It is really about the growing and blooming season. Plus the nights and mornings are too cool. I just don’t think it will work.”
Me: “I just have to…”
Him: “Oh dear. “
And so I did.
I walked outside, took the wooden mirror crate the movers had used, and I ripped off the cardboard backing.
There were still wooden slats across the bottom of the crate, but there were about 6 inch gaps in between.
I am a slinger, so I left them in place.
I worked up the soil a bit, dropped the box in place, and filled it with gardening soil.
I then poked a hole in the bed to find the rows that would clear the boards, and I planted my beloved zinnia seeds.
And then they came through.
And of course, the gentleman at the extension office was right.
The nights and mornings were too cool.
But I was right too.
And were they the healthiest zinnias I have ever planted? No.
But what they lacked in perfection, they made up for in perseverance and that kind of ‘vamanos’ spirit I love.
And earlier this month when it snowed, I walked outside to check on them, and I found this.
Aren’t they beautiful?
