2-27-12 A little sun on a drairy day!

Daffodils - a poem by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

 

02-20-12 Back to winter

The see-sawing seasons are nothing new in NC where you can go through two or thee seasons in a couple of days. In this case, two days of high 60s followed by snow. Well, at least we can say we've seen snow this winter. This makes it a "real" winter.

In the meantime, tomato seedlings are growing very comfortably inside:

02-17-12 Feels like Spring!!!!

For the first time in weeks, I saw kids riding their skateboards on the street and neighbors visited me in the garden.

I know we're talking about snow Sunday but today was amazingly beautiful.

Inside: the tomato seeds have germinated and are growing nicely.

Outdoors: I figured today was a good day to transplant my young leeks. You're supposed to do it when they are pencil thick and many of my seedlings had reached that size. I dug them up, trimmed their roots and tops and replanted them individually in small trenches that I can fill later to blanch as much as possible of the stem.                                                      

While I was at it, I transplanted the young lettuce you saw me start a few weeks ago. They look rather small on the picture but will pick up some size in the next few days.

With just two beds partially planted, the garden is already looking less forlorn and more civilized.

02-12-12 First real winter day

After having enjoyed the mildest winter in a while, last night came with a vengeance doing what most winters do: freeze my magnolia. We went from beautiful pink and white blooms to that indicative rust color in just a very few hours.

It will be later before I can tell for sure what the cold did to my escaroles and my kale. Although, to quote my brother in law Bob:"Frost that does not kill kale makes it sweeter." We'll see!

This see-saw weather has me worried about my bees: normally, in winter, they just stay in, try to stay warm and eat their honey to stay alive until spring. This year, they have been in and out on pretty days expanding a lot of energy while bringing little new food in. The hive feel very light, not a good sign and I can't really open it now until it gets warmer. The main concern on an odd winter like this is that the queen would start laying eggs early, that, in turn, could be killed by cold and weaken the whole hive. I need a 65 degree day to check them.



On the hopeful side, I have started my tomatoes. It will be another few days to see the new seedlings.

02/04/12 Spring Flowers

It may still be offically winter but daffodils are blooming 

everywhere, jasmine, quince, and magnolias.

 I am still hoping to see snow but nothing like Eastern

 Europe  that has been burried in it the last few days. 

The lettuce I moved outside a few days ago is looking great. I am keeping it under wrap to shelter

 it from temperature variations and to make sure crows don't feast on them before I do. 

The absence of harsh winter weather has a number of people dreading a late onslaught. 

It's always possible ; we've had late snow in the past. Being a cockeyed optimist,

 I prefer to believe that spring will be as nice as winter has been and I decided to start some of my

 tomatoes early. At the worst, I'll have to keep them protected an additional couple of weeks but,

 if my bet is correct, I won't have to wait til July fourth to sink my teeth in a fresh tomatoes.
I know tomatoes and strawberries and everything else is now available 12 months a year but I 

still am a big fan of seasonal eating and don't mind waiting another five month for the rteal thing.

           First tomato batch:

Pink Saladette

Costa Luta de Marmande ( an Italian version of a French

                                                    classic)

Brandywine Yellow

Lilian's yellow heirloom

Thessaloniky ( Greek) 

Cherry Roma (Italian)

Moonglow

Momotaro (Japanese)

Sarah Black

Lila Sari

Katja

and Black Cherry