This week in the garden...: 04-05-2013 The weeks of whys!

Why does this Spring feel like winter?
Why is it so cold?
And, next week: why is it so hot already?

We are now so used to, at the click of a button or the swipe of a symbol to get what we want that we still wonder why we can't better control the weather. Hence all those "why" questions.

The weather is doing what it has done even before we showed up on this earth and, while we understand it a little better, we still have absolutely no control over it much to the pleasure of weirdos like me who don't mind the unexpected and cherish whatever shows up (Providing it's not a late frost, or a prolong drought! :) :) :) )

So, the last few days, we've lived our usual ups and downs for this time of year with a couple of gorgeous days followed by a dreary wet one interrupted by sleet.

I promise you, in a few weeks we'll all cry for a cool day! And don't forget, unlike 90 % of humanity at large, we have had a choice and made it to live here, in good old North Carolina, drawn here by its beautiful mountains, its gorgeous beaches, a paying job, or...a woman. But we all made the choice to live in a place where Spring can be missed if you blink, where Fall is totally amazing (If only those darned skitters would die a little earlier in the year!) Summer is unbearably muggy and Winter feels like Summer in Poland.

In any season, beauty prevails:

In any case, the few nice hours have been put to use: most of the hen bits and Carolina geraniums have been pulled but for one section. The rain has helped everything else grow and leaf out; the whole place starts to look like a garden again and not a desolate collection of wood chips and row covers.


Here are the hen bits that keep me busy at this time of year. I appreciate that, in Winter, they cover most of the garden, keeping it soft and moist. At this time of year, they provide me with a lot of exercise and tons of vegetable matter for my compost pile. To dust ye shall all return...!

Last week I mentioned using Wall-o-Water to keep some plants warm on cold days. This is what it looks like:

With a few tomatoes seedlings growing cosily inside even on a cold day.

Tulips, like many flowers, open only to the sun's caress. On a gray, rainy day, they stay close to protect their pollen from being washed away by the rain and wasted.

This one loves the rain

Likewise, most of those pear blooms have closed their petals but for this one; it is now old enough to not have any pollen left. The anthers show no "yellow stuff"