My first sign came in one quick glance at all my potted plants littering our deck. I allow many to overwinter there and it currently looks something like an abandoned nursery where the plants have been left to wither and die. Only I know, that given another month or so, those pots will begin to burst with life once more. Take for instance this pot of tarragon. Its runners are shyly, yet bravely, beginning to show themselves. By the end of next month I should be able to harvest my first few tender leaves to toss into a salad or mix in a vinaigrette. The moss covering the potted soil is showing no fear though I am afraid. It appears to be simply thriving in and amongst my potted plant’s soil right now.
The next picture is of my Rugosa rose which turns two years old this summer. During the winter months it is one of the most vicious looking plants in my garden with its massive tangle of thorns. Today however its buds are beginning to swell and it is only a matter of time before the leaves burst forth with their greenness.
Out by the vegetable garden is the yarrow I planted last year. The yarrow that was only suppose to take 10 minutes to plant but ended up taking over an hour thanks to my ever so rocky soil. Peeking out from last years now dead growth are the first slight glimpses of what is to yet come from this year’s garden.
Finally, the sight that makes me the most happy of all to see- my bed of garlic is coming along quite nicely. Hopefully all of my work amending the soil with a cover crop of buckwheat last year will pay off and we will be rewarded with some gorgeous heads of garlic this July. On a rather humorous yet unfortunate side note, my labels for the garlic seem to have vanished into thin air during the winter. Perhaps the 5 feet of snow swallowed them up? Whatever the case may be they are gone and I have three types of garlic planted in that bed and not the slightest clue as to where each variety is because of course I failed to jot down where I planted each one. Why would I have done such a silly thing as to write down where each garlic type is planted when I thought I was doing well by remembering to label each variety in the bed itself? I suppose this will make for a rather interesting harvest!
Despite all the signs of life that prove that spring is on its way I am saddened by the sight of so many plants lost to the intense winter we have had. In a future post I will cover what some of those losses were. Until then I will continue to look for signs that the garden is gradually beginning to waken from its long and rather wild winter’s break.
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