By Jill Williams
“Springtime is the land awakening….”– Lewis Grizzard
The land has certainly finally awakened here in the valley.
Spring is well under way and I’m trying to forget all the ice storm clean up that I was doing this time last year.
Has anyone else noticed how spectacular the spring ephemerals are this year? The bloodroots that come up every year close to the house are the biggest I have ever seen them. I’m guessing that all the rain might have had something todo with that. And the hepaticas in the woods are also impressive this year. They’re a good reason to go for a walk in the woods before the trees leaf out. By the time the trees do leaf out the ephemerals will be gone.
I’m pleasantly surprised that the forsythia is a mass of yellow. Sometimes it goes straight to leaves without blooming in springs after a cold winter. That it’s blooming this year is very much appreciated.
I have allowed the forsythiato grow very large. It should have a quarter to a third of the old growth taken out after it flowers but I never seem to get around to doing this. It has lots of space where it is so I will probably continue to just leave it alone.
Every spring I’m glad that over many years I have taken the time to plant daffodils. Most of mine are naturalized on a hillside; that means no weeding and very minimal care. I do deadhead them and divide the crowded ones every few years. And I have become ruthless about replacing the ones that no longer bloom.
Double daffodils seem to always fall over and look sad when they get rained on. But they make great cut flowers so that solves that problem. Nothing is more cheerful than a bunch of daffodils in a plain old mason jar.
A few wild turkeys have joined the chickadees at the feeder. I see them most evening snow that it’s warm enough to sit out on the porch.
The phoebes have taken over the side porch as they do every spring. They have been busy adding a new layer to last year’s nest. This year they’re using cedar bark and pieces of mosses and bits of mud to hold it all together.
I don’t ever seem to see any of the construction going on but I do notice the sides of the nest getting higher.
The loudest bird I hear every spring is the woodpecker who makes a great racket on the metal garage roof. This starts in the morning before it gets light. As does the grouse drumming east of the house. The grouse drumming goes on around the clock for a few weeks every spring.
It’s a relief after the too long winter to finally bethinking about the vegetable garden. The season starts here when the garlic comes up. It grows very quickly at this time of year which is very encouraging. And who doesn’t need to see something encouraging?
I’m looking forward to the first spinach and snow peas and, of course, asparagus.
And then it will be time to prepare for planting warm weather vegetables. I’m lucky that the sandy soil here is workable even after a lot of heavy rain. There is no excuse not to get started.
So bring on the warm days of May. We can all look forward to tomatoes, cucumbers and yes, even zucchini. I can’t wait.