Spurred on by the permanent flower/herb beds I'm adding against the newly skirted sides of our trailer, I decided to branch out into some additional herbs this year, and also expand our planting of thyme. (Because there's never quite enough thyme on our homestead!) While most perennial herbs are best purchased as plants, I always like to test my green thumb against minuscule seeds, so I filled a flat with chamomile, Greek oregano, thyme, fennel, lovage, and poppies.

Of these, the chamomile is a self-seeding annual and the middle four should establish themselves as long-lived perennials. Poppies, on the other hand, are typical annuals that are planted in our main garden each year as a matter of course. So why include them in the herb flat?

The trouble is that my planting calendar says to seed poppies outdoors now, but our weather forecast has promised us at least a week below freezing with an ultimate low of -16 degrees Fahrenheit. Sure, I could just put off planting the poppies the way I have the lettuce and will the early peas. But I often end up thinning and resetting garden-seeded poppies, so I figured I'd test them out as transplants instead this year.

Will the herbs be our first garden sprouts of 2015? Not at all! Onions started in flats at the beginning of February are beginning to send up green leaves at the moment. A perfect visual tonic for a February cold spell!