04-12-2014 Pollen

The last few days have been gorgeous, if you can take the constant assault by tons of yellow pine pollen. Yesterday, after spending my morning weeding, I came home totally covered in that stuff...not counting what I had swallowed.

One of the few strawberry plants the voles have not killed yet.

On the other hand, the nice temps and good rains bring daily growth to the garden, having gone from an empty, frozen lot to an ever expanding green and the pink and white of fruit tree blooms. The house is slowly disappearing behind its spring green coat.
I ate my first spring lettuce with my lunch (home made pizza) today;

fairy wings

Chine Wisteria

Future Asian pears

Coral honeysuckle

more fairy wings!

The before and after apple blossoms

03-31-14 Spring, at last!

Yesterday was so pretty that by late afternoon, I saw neighbors hanging out in their yard who never spend any time outside. The draw was just too powerful!

Some young males got so excited that they brought out their noisy boy toys and trimmed a little here, cut a little there,adjusted a little here and there just to make sure nature remained under control within the proper confines.

For my part, I transplanted  tomato seedlings from the grow lamp tray to larger containers in order to give them some extra space and grow some solid root system before I put them in the real dirt in about three weeks time, after my topsoil warms up for good.

Last night felt so good and peaceful, after the last trimmer choked on its own fumes, that it reminded me of those childhood summer days when it was time to go to bed but you wanted to hang out just a little more, because dusk felt so perfect.

Tomorrow will be dedicated to some major crawling on my knees and weeding all the beds in preparation for the expected spring burst of growth and energy.

The other side of nature, as usual, is the wilder one. As you look at the tulip pictures, you will not notice that Sunday morning's visit by a deer trimmed a good number of my most beautiful tulips. I admire them for their beauty, the deer preferred their taste. Now neither one of us will see those any more. Of the few survivors, a vole decided to pull in and digest about three more. Nature under attack! Or wildlife's revenge?

Just a week ago, bamboo had to bow to ice.

02-16-2014 Spring between the storms

Once more we're talking about possible winter weather, after a couple of absolutely gorgeous days.
Flowers don't watch TV and don't listen to the weatherman/woman. The daytime length is their only guide:

Nandina berries

Quince

Anemone

Wind flower

Anemone

red lettuce

Heading lettuce

Blue anemone bud

...and, open!

Hyacinth

Future nectarine!!!! Can't wait!!!!

2-26-2014 Hopefully the last real cold push.

After a few absolutely gorgeous days, we're heading back into a few cold days.

Trees have not gotten the message and started leafing and blooming:

Blooming magnolia

Some garden survivors while my tomatoes and peppers started sprouting under the grow light.

This Brussel's sprout choose the horizontal position after too much snow.

Chervil

Crocus

...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....                William Wordsworth

Mine aren't in the thousands yet but in the hundreds.

2-15-2014 Can't stop nature!

As we dig out of our latest snow, rain, this morning, uncovered a golden surprise: the first daffodil blooms.

They are a little shy under the morning rain but there is no mistaking their message:

spring is on the way!

It's not quite 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.

2-12/13-2014 The second coming?

We've been blessed this year with not one but two snow storms. This one mixed in with some sleet for good measure.

The garden is again invisible,

The fig tree seen here in a very unconventional way: totally bare but for snow.

but it shows signs of hope, my first daffodil ready to bloom and the quince showing (timidly) the colors through the snow.

Bamboo bending under the ice.

Tea time! No mosquitoes! Guaranteed!

02-05-2014 Bleakness vs hope!

It is rather bleak out there!

 While I appreciate the rain, I think most of us are suffering from sun deprivation.

We're so used to see it most of the time, even in the heart of winter, not those clouds!

I did take advantage of a few dry hours here and there to do some clean up, pull weeds, remove frozen vegetables, clean up those that had a chance for survival. Hardly any of them show much prospect and, in any case, it'll be weeks before I can start eating them again.
I am spreading new wood chips provided by Craig Brown on the old paths to revitalize them some.

I started receiving some of the new seeds and put some to work by starting my leeks, onions and peas out in the garden and some lettuce under the grow light. So that on those bleak days, I can take a peak in the room and see some gorgeous new green leaves waiting for better days to be transplanted outside.