Break On Through (The Surface of the Soil)

Spring has been slow to come, giving us quick glimpses of it's warmth and promise. After such a long, harsh winter, it is easy to get anxious for it to finally stay. However, this year especially, it is a blessing that it has been such a mild and gradual warm up. With as much snow as we have had (just mere inches off of the record books), a quick and rapid warm up would have been the worst possible scenario in terms of spring melt flooding. Luckily, that has not been the case thus far. Flooding has been at a minimal (at least in the areas that I have been dealing with).

The good news is that even though the warm up is slow, the signs of spring are there. Located just beneath that scattering of soggy brown leaves are sprouts poking through the soil to say hello to any who are taking the time to pay attention and look a little closer. Almost as if by a calendar hidden deep within the DNA of certain early spring plants, they know the first day of spring like a mother knows her babies cries. And Spring calls to them by name. 

Another sign of the season is my first meeting with the community garden gardeners today. I have been in the process of getting in touch with and recruiting gardeners over the last month or two and today I finally get to be face to face with most of them all at once. I am very excited to be able to talk gardening with so many like minded and interested people. 

And what would a gardening blog be without some pictures? Here are just a few pictures that show the very beginnings of the gardening season. 

Here is my pile of seeds. I have a problem. As my friend and gardening partner Cassie put it, "There are worse problems to have." So anyway, if you are looking for seeds, chances are that I have some. 

Oh this might look like a random picture of dirt but that is where you would be wrong! Those are my garlic sprouts shooting up from the spring ground. I think they may have started sprouting in the fall and because of this, some of them look a little worse for wear from the weather we had. I am hoping that most of them pull through and give me a decent crop. 

Look at my onions go! Started from seed, they were just tiny little sprouts not so long ago. I need to trim off the tops so they don't get too top heavy and floppy before I can set them out but they are certainly growing at a healthy rate. Part of this is thanks to Cathie Blumer. She gave me worm poo compost and I put some on my onions. Their color and size improved noticeably after about a week. 

It is early yet and there will be more things to come. I am hoping that my shared experiences will help to motivate you and even possibly help give you a timeline of when things can/should be happening when it comes to your garden. As always, I love questions and welcome the chance to help anyone who might want it. 

"The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body but the soul." -Alfred Austin