Warm Weather for Easter!

It's a T-shirt, open-window day! Today I planted oriental lily and freesia bulbs, transplanted some basil to pots, and Mike is working on moving his berries to the back of his garden.

This week, before it got warm again, we went to a local nursery and I was elated to see all the annuals they were selling, an absolutely beautiful sight after an extended winter.

My initial goal was to grow all my own potted annuals from seed this year, but the reality is that all our grow light space is occupied by edibles, and after seeing the pretty stuff they have for sale, I can't wait to take some home!

I took a pictures of a few that caught my eye:

angelonia with huge flowers

petunias

coleus

petunias

diascia

cuphea

nemesia

zinnias

marigolds

 When Mike went to the home improvement store today, I asked him to get some pansies if they were out. Looking out onto our brown deck with brown furniture and a mostly brown lawn in the background looks way different with a pot of these on it!

And in my front garden, finally, the crocuses are starting to bloom! Just in time for Easter.

This is the time of year when it's finally warm enough to use the outdoor table, but it's consumed by hardening off seedlings:

purple ruffles basil

And here is Mike's tilled and enlarged garden this year. He has plans to build a fence. The clothesline poles are going to be a fixture in the garden for now, because the cement holding them in went much too deep for him to pull them out without a big tractor.

I hope you're enjoying the happy return of Spring!

Green and Snowy

We had some nice thunderstorms all weekend, a little hail, lightning, really Spring-like and just starting to green up. I bet even the hidden-in-the-valleys last remnants of snow melted with that. Then this morning, awoke to this:

Happy Monday! Winter's back!

 It's chilly. Highs below 40. You need to wear gloves in this kind of weather to be comfortable, but it's too disheartening to even get them out.

Then by this evening, not only was it still light enough for photographs when I got home from work at 6:30, but the snow was also melting. It's getting green! Spring is here, like it or not, Winter!

crocuses

tulips

view from the living room

And Mike is slowly making progress toward his goal of selling at the farmer's market this summer. Today during naptime he made a tomato crate out of unused wood flooring.

Before you know it I'll have big flowers and early produce pictures to share on here! But for now, once again waiting for a little snow to melt.

Glorious Spring

It has finally warmed to an acceptably Spring-like temperature, and it is glorious! We have had a couple days in the lower 60s, but as of now, there are no highs into the 70s in the 10 day forecast yet, but I'm optimistic we'll see 70 in the next couple weeks. 

I have to admit March was long. We had a cute little toddler constantly requesting, "Outside?" while it was still quite chilly and covered with snow that prevented her little legs from running around.

Here is our first hint that gardening time is just around the corner. The snow receded by mid-late March. 

And these signs gave me so much hope I would be digging in the dirt soon:

a robin!

allium shoots

Violas, which I planted hoping they would reseed themselves and become a permanent part of the garden. Didn't expect there to be blossoms the second the snow receded!

 Then the real gloriousness began, with the first days in the 60s falling on a weekend; real garden chores could be started, clearing out the old perennial foliage, weeding the creeping charlie from around the garden border, and moving some bulbs into pots, which I was so happy to see were sprouting beneath the dirt, so Mike could slope the front of the house. 

tulips

 

violas

first of the crocuses

first of the bulbs

 There were a couple surprises: trying to move some sedum and hostas, and hitting frozen ground 4 inches down in a shady spot next to the house, and an April snow.

 I learned to appreciate the prolonged winter chill when I learned that the early Spring, before it warms, is the only time the maple sap flows, and Mike put that to good use by tapping 8 of our maples, a few of which yielded enough sap to make over 2 gallons of maple syrup.

And now, the buds on the maples have swelled and the syrup-making is done, Mike is transplanting more and more of his little seedlings into larger pots, he is getting his garden ready to be tilled into an even bigger plot, and we are having enough warm days where we're starting to expect nice afternoons outside with only long sleeves or light jackets.

seedlings starting to harden off

 

heirloom tomatoes

the river has finally thawed!

 And finally, I leave you with a video that exemplifies our excitement at finally seeing some nature after months of looking at the frozen, sleeping outdoors:  A bug!