“Lion-like March cometh in, hoarse, with tempestuous breath.”
William Dean Howells
March always seems to me to be the best and the worst part of winter. Best because it means we are almost done with it and worst because looking out the window there is still snow and ice. The winter of 2019 was one of the worst ever for ice and all the calamities that go along with that. But I will try to put that behind me and look ahead for signs of spring.
Seed racks have appeared in the hardware store and the white-throated sparrows are singing here. The hard necked garlic is sprouting in the pantry with the longer days. The soft neck will last a little longer before the green sprouts appear.
One of late winter’s more pleasant tasks is to make soup with the last butternut squash which is threatening to go soft. This will use up some of the sprouted garlic, too, so it feels like a double accomplishment.
The resident cats obviously have cabin fever. It is amusing to watch them stand on their hind legs, close their eyes and flatten their ears and randomly box with each other. Relief is coming for them in the form of the large cardboard box that my new tub trugs will arrive in. If past years are any indication, they will play with this until it’s warm enough to go outside.
I got a lot of response to my somewhat cranky list last month. A lot of people apparently like fake terra cotta pots and I only heard from one wind chime hater. And there was a loud consensus that garden bores are not to be borne.
I would like to add one thing to the list of likes that I forgot last month. That would be my favourite anti-cabin fever device: the firebowl.
The smallest fire made with a few dead branches does wonders to sweep away the cobwebs of cabin fever. I made good use of mine on the few mild days of this past winter.
Spring is the time for planning. And for perhaps playing catch up with what didn’t get done last year.
I didn’t quite get as far as planting the pole beans last year. I got the poles out of storage and they made it as far as the woodshed. But other tasks took precedence and then it was too late for the beans.
So this year the purple pole beans (Carminat) will definitely get planted. And maybe I will plant sweet peas this year. Last year with the heat and drought would have been a bad year for sweet peas. But this year at this point I have nothing but optimism for the coming season.
Finally, I am cheered up by looking at my garden journal and seeing that the first bulbs were starting to come up at the end of February last year. The year before that it was the first week in March. The snowdrops and crocuses are waiting for those first warm days. And so am I.
By Jill Williams
