What I'll be doing while Joe fishes...

Joe and I are the proud parents of three new children.  As most new parents, we had no clue what we were getting into until it was too late.  Our babies are now fed and tucked in for the night so I'm taking this opportunity to share our adoption story...

With the last snow disappearing this week and about 17 hours of sunlight each day, we are shaking off the long winter and are seeking ways to be outside to enjoy the sunshine.  I read today that I'm now "cleared" to plant peas, kale, and chard so I couldn't wait to get to the nearest nursery for seeds.

We found ourselves in a nearby nursery and I was in horticulture heaven.  While the growing season is very short here, the long summer days are perfect for growing huge vegetables and flowers.  I am not exaggerating when I say that there were rose blossoms the size of two fists!  Gorgeous!

We quickly got swept up in the gardening frenzy when we were told that if we saw something we liked we needed to go ahead and purchase it because by June, there would be nothing left.  I knew that I needed some hanging baskets and quickly selected three petunia baskets and loaded them in our cart and proceeded to checkout.

As we were paying for these, the ladies behind the counter either noticed Joe's OU Dad cap or our Texas accents but warily asked if we had ever purchased hanging baskets before.  We replied that we were quite familiar with petunias and knew to keep them watered, etc...  Not the right answer!

The women were quite concerned that we did not have our own greenhouse yet were buying these plants.  I honestly thought for awhile that they were not going to let us leave with the plants we had just purchased.  After some back and forth, Joe finally asked them if we could just leave the baskets for them to care for and we'd be happy with visitation rights.  They reluctantly handed us an instruction sheet for the care and feeding of our children and we felt like kidnappers as we wrestled the petunias into the car while looking over our shoulders for over-zealous geriatric store clerks.

Evidently, plants in Alaska require more than sunlight and water.  According to the instructions, for the next 3 weeks, I will be caring for my "babies" much as you would a newborn.  I am to expose them to varying degrees of warmth, humidity, and light.  This is done in 30 minute intervals each day.  I must water them with warm water and not water straight from the tap to avoid shock.  I cannot leave them unattended on my front porch until mid-June and then only after they have been fully acclimated to their new environment.

Currently, they are down for the night in the heated garage carefully positioned so they their tender stems won't be directly exposed to the natural sunlight streaming in the windows.   We are speaking softly around them and caution one another about slamming the car doors.  We feel like new parents...Should we leave the light on tonight or turn it off?  Do you think the garage is warm enough?  Too warm?  Do they look droopy?  Do you think they are going into shock?  My own human children were much less needy than these pink and purple tyrants!

I intend to do my best to give these babies a good start but if I get I phone call to float the Kenai, they are on their own!