Springing
April 2018
Last time, I wrote about “Wintering”.
Now that winter is over, I should be
writing about “Springing”.
Right?
Well, I thought so, but the month of
March was quite a fickle one!
And, technically, winter wasn't over until March 20.
I will again focus on the gardens and
how they fared during that fickle month of March, which went back and
forth between classic spring days to, well, classic winter
days.
March 8: Morning sun illuminates the two-trunk Sycamore in the distance, seen from the kitchen bay window
March 21: early morning scene outside the kitchen bay window
March 21: early morning scene from a kitchen window
Herb Garden Transformation Project (HGTP):
March 4 - Richard had installed new stepping stones from the parking area to the porch door! No more walking on gooshy ground after rain, or in the snow.
March 7
March 20 - Vernal Equinox
March 21 - morning
March 21 - afternoon
Perhaps the progression of Daffodils
painted the most distinctive pictures of the changes throughout
March:
March 3: first buds ready to open
March 4: first blooms
March 20
March 21 - morning
March 21 - afternoon
Despite the snow and the changes in
temperature, the budding of spring progressed throughout the month,
foretelling the blossoms to come:
March 16: Volunteer Peach Tree buds opening
March 16: Volunteer Peach Tree - new leaves just starting
March 18: Volunteer Peach Tree buds
March 28: Volunteer Peach Tree flower buds swelling
March 28: Lilac flower buds
March 28: Lilac with flower buds and new leaves
The Allium family of plants was the
first to flourish:
Garlic:
Planted the previous fall. The largest part of the crop is Music, which I bought from a couple at the local farmers market a few years ago.
So far, this variety has done the best in our climate and soil.
March 3: Music garlic
March 7: Music garlic
March 7: Music and miscellaneous garlic
March 16: Music Garlic
Garlic Chives:
These get really out of hand. During previous years, Garlic Chives spread well beyond this spot, inside and outside the garden. Last year I dug up all "renegade" Garlic Chive plants and am trying to keep them in this space only. I also clip off the blooming tops before the seed ripens.
March 7
March 16
March 20
Egyptian Walking Onions:
My original starts came from my father's garden in northern Indiana. This is another Allium that gets carried away, so I have been gradually digging up the stray ones outside this bed and using them as green onions. Later this year they will grow tall, blooming stalks that develop into heads of little bulblets. The tops will drop to the ground, and the bulblets will each sprout and grow a new plant - so, that is how this "walks" all over.
It's a great way to have a good supply of green onions with little care.
March 7
March 16
Perennial Leeks:
I'm so glad I discovered these through Southern Exposure Seed Exchange which, among so many other things, has a selection of perennial Alliums that are hard to find but so easy to grow. These don't get as large as "normal" (annual) Leeks, but they perpetuate. Each year you dig them up and separate the clusters - save the large ones for eating and plant the small ones that grow clustered around the larger one in each bunch. A little bit of work just once a year.
March 3
March 7
March 16
And the big “Mystery Leeks”:
I have no idea what these are, except that these are Leeks. The leaves get wide and large. It sends up a very tall stalk with a large ball of beautiful white blossoms. They popped up here, in a row, after I converted the raised bed garden to the HGTP. I know that they are not any related ornamental Allium, as I have never planted those, but I had planted some kind of Leek before in the raised beds. Last fall I thought I had dug up every bulb, but this year they all popped up again - very mysterious things!
March 7
March 16, with Silas
Also, on March 16 I got the He-Shi-Ko Bunching Onions into the ground that I had started in trays indoors during the
winter. I grow these every year, planting several seeds in each cell.
Other plants were also showing promise
for the new gardening year:
March 7: Burdock
I'm raising these for the roots ("Gobo") that are medicinal and also delicious - with intentions of making my favorite Japanese salad, Kinpira.
March 20: Burdock
March 28: Burdock and Claus
March 7: Tina James' Magic Primrose
Come visit us when these bloom in June. We bring out chairs at dusk, maybe glasses of wine, and watch the pale yellow flower buds suddenly unwind and open up, and try to predict which one will open next. It sounds simple but these "Primrose-Watching Parties" are fun.
At dark the Hawk Moth comes to pollinate the flowers.
Leaves of Comfrey just showing up on March 16. These will become very large leaves and plants with gracefully curved stalks of purple flowers that Bumblebees love.
Also, the big leaves are very medicinal, used externally.
On March 19, my Black Current shrubs
arrived from Shumway's. I soaked the roots in a bucket, then later
put them in the ground, mulched them, and trimmed them back.
Gardening is full of wishing, hoping, being optimistic, and imagining
the future.
Speaking of wishing, hoping, etc.,
other things happened in the garden that were part of preparing for
the future.
March 16: the space in the HGTP that I anticipate filling with Calendula.
March 16: Richard has planted two kinds of peas - Tall Telephone and Lincoln
March 16: Richard has gotten the old strawberry rows covered with straw (good thing, as we'd have snow some days later)
March 16: the area to become the new strawberry beds, and other things
March 19: Richard has gotten the space tilled
March 19: Richard using his new walk-behind tractor to till up new garden beds
What promise it all held, with days
ahead of tending, babying things through the vagaries of spring,
crossing fingers. The gardener's year does not have a beginning and
an end. It is a constant cycle, every spot in the year having its
affects on plants and animals above and below ground, tucked into
buds and burrows or bursting forth into the elements.
As it turned out, April brought similar
challenges to March, but further along on the continuum.
April 13
April 13: Richard's tomato and pepper seedlings
April 13: some of my herb and flower seedlings
April 15: on a snowy spring day, Greek Oregano plants are snug in their cells indoors
April 15: plant trays and bay window view
It would be awhile yet, but we could
still dream of green leaves, colorful blooms, juicy fruits and
luscious vegetables, all warm from the sun.
Someday.
