I have given my garden more thought than I ever do matters that are far more weighty. Why is this? Why is a garden so important to so many of us? My nongardening spouse, John, will be discussing the heavy topic of our health insurance and my mind will be wandering to "...where can I tuck some sweet peas?"

Am I frivolous? An air head?

The really unfortunate aspect of all of this is that my garden doesn't LOOK like I think about it at all. I am still hanging on to the 20 years of gardening at elevation 1,466 feet. There I would plant something and cross my fingers. I seldom planted more than one of anything, because I wasn't sure that it would survive the season, let alone the winter.

But that was four years ago. I can loosen up now. To an extent I have. I actually planted two mock orange and both are doing magnificently. That alone should give me the courage to forge ahead.

I could hardly believe my good luck that the lilacs I planted in '98 have tripled in size. Well, of course they have. Elevation 396 is a blessing, especially for lilacs.

Back to the focus of gardening: for me it really is food. This coming season will see the use of the new raised beds that John built this fall. I have been green with envy every time someone stopped me to comment on the fact that it was December and they were still picking broccoli. Yes, we had a very unusual growing season: the fall that wouldn't end extended the growing and harvesting well into the first week of December.

Although I have enjoyed the addition of our puppy, Paris, she was a force this summer. I did not use floating row covers at all because I decided the temptation was too much for a puppy. I did not want her to think her middle name was NO.

But I must say that floating row covers are the greatest invention of all time. The featherweight material really and truly is a boon to short-season gardening. The French developed it to thwart pests from their crops, and those in cool climates discovered the added benefit of a temperature increase of 4 to 5 degrees.

Those few degrees can make all of the difference to marginal crops. Pumpkins for instance. Last year I got 27 (I think) Small Sugar pumpkins from two vines. This year, no floating row cover, I got exactly zero.

If you haven't been using floating row covers (ReeMay is a brand name you can look for), I strongly suggest that you start. The material is locally available and cheap, to boot.

I also use a biodegradable black paper that I lay on the surface of the soil, cut an X in it and plant whatever marginal vegetable I have into it. Then cover the whole thing with a floating row cover. The paper is water permeable, so you don't have to worry about that.

Another thing I skipped last year because of Paris was foliar feeding with fish emulsion. I thought the smell of it would encourage her to dig up the plants. I could really tell a significant (not huge) difference in the vegetable plot. I only foliar-feed about twice a season, but the importance of it was obvious this year.

Another positive thing about January is the chance to read gardening books. The Homer Public Library has an eclectic supply. Be sure that you go to the Alaska gardening section for serious information that will help you. The other, larger gardening section has gorgeous books that will make you wish you lived somewhere else.

I still love the Taunton Press magazine "Fine Gardening." See www.finegardening.com, or call 1-800-888-8286. Or, the Homer Bookstore on Pioneer Avenue carries it. For $29.95 per year, it is inspirational. I even love the advertising. Another one that I have been subscribing to for several years is the British publication Gardens Illustrated (888-410-9858).

Give this month over to thinking about just what it is you want to do with your garden. If you have a deck and only a deck and think that gardening is not an option for you, look at books that address container gardening. You, too, can have a fresh salad and tasty vegetables.

Never gardened before? Come to the Homer Garden Club monthly meetings at the Homer City Hall in the city council chambers the fourth Sunday of the month at 2 p.m. There will be lots of people there who have been gardening here in Homer forever and are more than willing to share their hard-won knowledge.

Note: I was walking Paris on Bishop's Beach Sunday afternoon and saw a flock of about 20 robins. Is this usual? Have they always been there and I am just now noticing them?