Daffodils!

First of the season, blooming in my front yard this morning!

And so it begins

Yesterday, I planted my first spring seeds in the vegetable garden. I planted peas and two varieties of sugar snaps. Even though we often don't get enough for more than one meal of each, there's something irresistible about peas fresh out of the garden. The birds and chipmunks think so, too, so I covered the plot with mesh. I hope that'll give the seeds a chance to sprout.

My garden experiment this year is potatoes. I've wanted to plant potatoes for the last few years, but I wasn't sure how to get started. We were in Lowe's this weekend and found a whole display of seed potatoes, so I took the plunge. I bought packages of Yukon Gold and Red Norland.  Each package had ten little potatoes in it. I followed the directions on the package, watered everything, and made sure they were under the mesh, too.

Next up:  spinach. I haven't had much luck with spinach lately. I've had very poor germination, even with fresh seed. This time, I'm going to try soaking the seeds ahead of time, like I do with peas and beans. We'll see if that helps.

I don't care what the calendar says...

..it's most definitely spring out there! It's been warm and sunny for the last week, so things are starting to sprout, including these snow crocuses in the front yard. Also spotted:  lots of daffodils, hyacinth, columbine, and daylilies. The buds are swelling on the forsythia, so I'm looking forward to that blooming before the end of the month.

The garlic is also sprouting. I wasn't sure it would work this time. I planted a few heads from last year's harvest.  So far, so good.

It's been warm, but it's also been dry. We're way below our normal precipitation so far this year. The garden soil is very dry and crumbly, rather than soaking wet and sticky like it usually is this time of year. That's not a good sign. It's also been windy--there have been several wildfires in the mountains nearby, which is very unusual for February.

I'm sure that we're not done with cold weather yet. I just hope that we get some rain, not more snow, in the coming weeks.

Hellebore

By the way, this is what hellebore looks like.  The flowers aren't quite open.  When they do open, there are five petals.  Some of the plants have these pinkish flowers.  Others are white.

Signs of Spring

This weekend I finally found the first signs of spring in the yard.  The snowdrops are starting to bloom, as are the hellebores.  The daffodils are sprouting all over the yard, too.

On the other hand, it's supposed to be twenty degrees tonight with snow flurries.

Small steps.  Spring really is coming.

Indoor Gardening

Most of my gardening this time of year is the indoor variety.  Yesterday, I visited a local garden center that has a fabulous after-Christmas sale:  50% off everything in the store.  Since the sale had been going on all week, the pickings were slim.  I did, however, treat myself to an orchid.  I hope I can keep it alive.

I have a whole baker's rack of potted plants.  They spend the summer on the front porch, and the winter in the kitchen in front of the French door.  The ones that don't fit on the rack spend the winter in the living room, so we dodge large fern fronds while navigating in there.  The challenge is to keep everything well-watered while they're indoors, without overflowing and spilling water all over the floor. 

It's nice to have plants in the house in the winter.  Helps with the cabin fever that sets in when the days are short and cold, and there's very little that's green outdoors. 

Long-term forecast

This fall, I read a weather forecast for the coming winter.  The prediction was for a warmer and drier than usual winter.  Really?  So far we've had two snow storms in December, which is two more than we usually have.  The high temperatures have been running about 20 degrees below normal, too.  The ponds are frozen over, and the streets are still icy.  So, let's see how that forecast holds up for the rest of the winter...