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There are signs of spring all around us, even if it is the middle of February! Over the last two weeks, we have been enjoying these rather uncommon warm days by going for walks around the neighborhood, playing outside, and even getting some yard work done. One thing is for certain … this warm weather is starting to wake up the earth bit by bit.
I’m used to seeing crocuses around St Patrick’s Day, but these beauties and quite a few like them, were in full bloom on President’s Day! A whole month early! Our neighbor’s front yard is a sea of purples, yellows, and white while all of the crocuses are in bloom. I’ve also seen daffodils and lilies starting to shoot up, and their bright green leaves and stems are much farther along than what we usually see in eastern Pennsylvania.
My friend in Kentucky posted a photo of her neighbor’s magnolia tree in full bloom. That got me thinking about the magnolia tree across the street. Its not in bloom yet, but check out these buds! Spring is in the air!
In an attempt to have a fall garden after a horrible summer garden, we planted lettuce in October. Look what’s still going strong! This is buttercrunch lettuce that we direct planted from seed. A few leaves have yellowed on the edges because of the very cold temperatures (you know that round of snow we had about a month ago), but its still sweet, crisp, and delicious. I even picked a few leaves to have on my sandwich.
Garlic gets planted in mid-October. We had a warm spell shortly after these were planted, and they shot out some greens. Over the past few months, they have gone mostly dormant. This is my first attempt at garlic, so I’m really hoping that they take off once it is consistently warm out and I get to harvest mid-summer.
As I continues to walk around our gardens, I saw these little green clusters poking up. Hyacinths! These were given to us last Easter, and I forgot about them next to the garage. Some time in the fall, we planted the bulbs along the edge of one of our raised beds, and then covered it with leaves for the winter. It appears that ignoring the bulbs was the way to go, because now they seem strong and are coming up beautifully!
This little tuft of green isn’t as it appears. Its not a weed. Its not grass. These are the very early shoots from some onion seeds that I planted in October. I had half a packet left, and was ready to toss them when I thought, “Why not!?” Into the ground they went. I don’t even remember what variety of onions they are, so I get to be surprised when (if) they finish coming up.
In the next bed, I had tried to grow a fall crop of carrots. I thought they were duds because nothing grew in the fall! I guess they wanted to be a batch of spring carrots instead. These greens are already about 1 1/2 inches tall. If the weather stays warm, I could have fresh from the garden carrots in time for Easter.
As I finished my walk around the yard, I stopped at my fruit trees. They are in need of some pruning before spring is really here, but they are strong and doing well. My favorite tree is my GaLa peach. This is its 4th growing season, and I’m hoping for lots of beautiful sweet peaches this year. So far, we have buds, so at least I know things are moving in the right direction.
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