I often wonder why I always welcome February. It's true that in the past, there have been some spring-like days thus far in this month. However, mostly it is bitterly cold and bleak. Better for me to look at my flower pictures from last summer than dwell on the view outside.
Outdoorsy as I am, I've been a bit housebound with the cold winds. Every day, I bundle up and fetch more firewood, empty the wood stove ashes, gather kindling, carry water to the flock and scurry back inside. If there are signs of spring, I just can't see them. Tears are dripping on my glasses and running down my cheeks.
It was twenty-four degrees this morning, not gardening weather.
When Is and Molly came recently, we made garden plans and had a brief tour of the garden and flower beds. Above the roar of the icy wind, I told them where the marvelous veggies and flowers will be. No one believed a word of it.
There is an old saying, "A February spring isn't worth a pin." I understand that's true for the fruit trees, which need for the cold to continue unabated until bloom time. But what about us? At this time of year, I long for some pleasant weather.
The good news from the weather radio is in a few days, temperatures will be in the sixties. I want to believe it. I can't let myself remember how often better weather has appeared in the forecast. It was always a few days hence, never actually arriving.
Meanwhile, I'm crawling back into bed and have set my alarm for later in the week.
Oh, wait! After writing the above, the cold winds from the north gave way to gentle breezes from the southeast. The temperature got up to FIFTY degrees, practically balmy.
I rushed outside to this fencing hoop structure that I put up in the fall before the ground was frozen.
Happy to have the plastic film on hand, I completed the project. Well, that was after getting Iris out of the tunnel. The plan is for the sun, when it chooses to come out, to warm the soil so I can work it enough to plant the early seeds.
Next, I did a plastic pots inventory in the workshop. There are plenty, but I'll get more seed-starting and potting soil soon at Planters. Broccoli and cabbage seeds are demanding to be planted soon. They have tiny, rather shrill voices.
