Snow on the first day of spring!

Typical March --it just loves to get in those sneak attacks. However, I'm sure the blooming crocus and snowdrops will be just fine, and nothing else is really up enough to be harmed. It's accumulated a little bit on the grass, but it's already melting. Tomorrow we're supposed to go back up to the 40's, so it won't be sticking around. Maybe it will be our last snow of the season? We can hope.

I did a tiny bit of garden clean-up today. It wasn't terribly warm, but the crocus needed some of last year's stuff cleaned away so we can see them. The bleeding heart has little tiny tips up, hopefully it will take it slow. It's not even April yet. The daffodils are coming up in the paddock, which surprises me -it seems early. The snowdrops in the woods are blooming, and the squill are beginning to show their blue faces as well.

Well, I ordered the tomatoes from WFF --six altogether, including three of the Amish paste and a Sungold. I also ordered the liatris and some coral bells (heuchera) for the northeast bed that we finished building last year. I got those from Bluestone Perennials.

We had rain this past weekend, and it looks like more rain is moving in. It's in the lower 40's, so the remaining snow cover continues to shrink. Over the weekend we found that in addition to our snowdrops, we also have crocus at the northwest corner that are about an inch up --they were revealed as the ice melted off of them, so they must've been growing under the snow. Some of the alliums are also growing.

First flowers of 2010

Yesterday I checked out the East bed, and found the snowdrops Emma and I planted last fall, blooming! That bed is always warm, and I guess I've finally found an area where the critters didn't find the bulbs.

Most things are still pretty snow-covered, although we do see more bare ground each day. This weekend we're supposed to be in the 40's, and I'm hoping we can get rid of a lot more of this old snow.

Still Winter

I need to remember that. The sun is strong enough to be melting the snow slowly, even though the temps are only just above freezing. We might break 40 this weekend. But we still have quite thick snow in some places where it drifted.

I haven't really ordered anything this year. I need to order my tomatoes, and I wanted to order some liatris. I'll need to look for that in a catalog, or maybe at the nursery.

Waiting for another winter storm --not too big, but probably a bit over 6 inches of snow. Things were just uncovered again. However, it will be back in the lower 30s by next weekend, so I imagine this snow will go away a bit quicker than the last.

Today we talked about creating some raised veggie beds along the west side of the house --Emma wants a raised bed for strawberries there too, which would be a good idea because it would keep the strawberries a bit contained. I think my tomato bed by the garage is rather played out, and could use some soil renewal. I'll probably just let the strawberries take it over for now. It's nice to spend a bit of time thinking of growing things.

First post of 2010

Well, here we are in February, 2010. It's been a fairly snowy winter so far --really cold in December and early January, but milder now. Still winter --below freezing most days, but not so bitter. A lot of our snow has melted off with a couple of just-above-freezing days over the last few weeks, but we're expecting a new batch of snow tomorrow evening into Tuesday.

All the plants are still pretty well buried, which is good because it cuts down on the frost heaving. The only bed that isn't covered, as usual, is the East bed.

I was ready for the garden to die back in the fall, but I'm now ready for spring again. I'm looking forward to April, and looking for the green growing tips poking up.