“All Nature seems at work. Slugs leave their lair- The bees are stirring- birds are on the wing- And Winter, slumbering in the open air, Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring!”
Coleridge
It’s hard to imagine that the groundhog could possibly be right about early spring this year with so much snow. But I wouldn’t mind being proved wrong about that.
It has been a few years since the quiet creek has turned into a raging whitewater river with melting snow. I’m certain that there will be at least a few days of whitewater this year. I wouldn’t be unhappy if some of the old beaver dam gets swept away. It hasn’t been used for several years now.
Two years ago on Valentine’s Day I could see the tops of the bulbs beside the house. This year there is a good foot and a half of snow right up to the house. So who knows when the first bulbs will appear? It is reassuring, though, to know that they’re under there even if it takes longer to see them this spring.
I have spent too much time shovelling after the two big storms following Valentine’s Day. It has been a few years since the snow was too deep to walk in without shovelling. I now have paths to the woodshed, the bird feeder and everywhere I need to get to outside.
The snow doesn’t seem to affect the brawling blue jays who have shown up to the feeder every day. They do as much fighting as eating it seems. A pair of cardinals who are a bit more reserved have also come every day. I first heard the cardinals in the trees around the house last fall. But I never saw them. So it’s good to finally be able to see them.
The bird feeder show has been good entertainment in this last and possibly worst part of winter. Cabin fever is setting in and any outside diversion is welcome.
I’m wavering in my resolution to not start any tomatoes from seed this year. I still have awhile to decide about that.
I bought sweet pea seeds back in January. Sweet peas, along with snow peas, are the first seeds that I plant right after the snow melts. I kept deadheading the sweet peas last summer to keep them flowering longer. But I am told by successful sweet pea growers that I can save the seeds even from the hybrids so I will try that this year.
I’m not sure if it’s a trend or not but recently I have noticed several articles about direct seeding vegetables. Obviously you can’t do that with peppers or tomatoes. But with vegetables like cucumbers or zucchini that don’t like to be transplanted, I don’t think there’s any advantage to starting them early. I have done this years ago and they seemed to sulk for a bit after being planted. It seemed to be better to plant seeds at the end of May and skip the trying to plant plants.
I think that part of the rationale for direct seeding was to reduce the amount of plastic. But as a long time gardener I have a garage full of plastic pots so I think that ship has sailed.
The indoor forest of plants is finally starting to take off and respond to the longer days. They cheer me up when I’m looking out at endless snow and the nights are still cold.
I can remember always being very discouraged at the beginning of March when it’s still winter. But eventually the cracks appear and all that snow will start to melt. All my neatly shovelled paths will disappear and I won’t mind a bit.
Jill Williams