Spring!

Well, maybe it's not officially spring quite yet, but it sure feels like it! (The vernal equinox is usually considered the first day of spring and it falls on March 20 this year.) The last few days have gotten up into the 50s, the snow is almost all melted away, and the people of Madison are starting to celebrate the end of another long winter - while trying to remember that the cold weather could come back at any time with a vengeance.

Since this is my first spring in the house we're renting, I'm not quite sure what to expect. I've heard that there's tons of bulbs planted in the front yard, and they're starting to come up! I took this picture and the one at the beginning of the post this afternoon. It's always so exciting to see the first little bits of green poking through the dirt!

Unfortunately, we weren't able to renew our lease at this house, so we'll have to move out in August. It's a bummer since there's this nice little garden plot (about 8'x12') in the backyard. We've decided to plant some spring vegetables at least - lettuce, arugula, cilantro, peas, radishes, chard, kale, spinach.....we should be able to get a good crop of all these before we leave. It's not imperative that we have a big veggie garden anyway, since I'll be working on a farm and getting a lot of free vegetables. Certain things are better fresh from your own backyard though - certainly all the tender spring greens fall into that category.

The snow is finally melted off the garden plot, and we're pondering out next step. We'll probably rig up some kind of cold frame over top it so we can direct seed a few things early in the spring. That's at least two weeks off though....

One thing I can't live without is fresh culinary herbs. I had some beautiful plants in California that I miss terribly, and I've decided it's time to start again. I started the seeds today: rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme, and catnip (for my kitty, Gulliver.) These are all perennials. They survived just fine outdoors in California, but here it's a good idea to bring them in in the winter, especially the rosemary. Since we can't stay here anyway it makes sense to keep them in pots. Once they get big enough I'll transplant them into bigger 4 gallon pots.

I put them under our sunny kitchen window. The top shelf would probably have been the best place, but that's Gulliver's lounging spot, so I put the pots on the second shelf. If it's not enough light we'll have to figure something else out. It'll certainly be enough to get them germinated and starting to grow.
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