Countdown to Springtime: Marching towards the Equinox 2007

I heard frogs (peepers) this morning

there is still snow and ice in the garden - yes , there are also some patches of green ...

but as soon as i got ouf of bed this morning , i knew ...
SPRING HAS ARRIVED !

because my spring allergy had kicked into high gear ... sneezing , runny nose , itchy ears ... ah , spring has arrived !

so i took my allergy pill , grabbed the nose spray and plenty of kleenex !
much as i like spring , i dread my spring allergy .
the next phase will come when the tree buds are opening .. achoo ! gesundheit !
hbg

It's really spring now (after we had had a rainy week, even with some snow, until noon today):

tulips in the park ...



.... and even in the shadowy backyard garden of our house

April Showers are soaking the Poconos, but they are also melting the snow. Despite the unseasonable warmth in December and January, I have several clumps of snowdrops visible from my windows.

I'm going to grab an umbrella and check my other plantings.

today we took the spring drive along lake ontario we had promised each other . just a glorious , sunny day . not too warm - about 8-10 C (in the 50's) .
still plenty of ice on lake ontario but breaking up fast - expect the costguard cutter any day now to open up the shipping channel .
stopped for a nice lunch in the country - mrs h finished up with a fabulous "mexican chocolate torte" - i took my extra-long fork to do some tasting :wink: and we told ourselves that chocolate has tremendous health-benefits .
when we came back to the house , the first crocus in the garden greeted us - how nice of them !
large flocks of canada geese were flying north this morning - usually they don't go north before early may - this is about six weeks early !
pix to follow - if i don't get too busy .
hbg

The Turkey Vultures have returned. I see them every spring. They return, fly around and around - looking for a nesting site, I assume. Then I don't see them until next spring.

Toques are coming off!!!
Oh yeah baby, show me some hair.

I don't need to use my heater anymore, and my parka is going into retirement for the year.

My favorite right now is the sky. Early mornings I can see a nice play of colours instead of the long standing deep deep blue/black that I was used to.

We smelled skunks last night when we were bringing in the groceries. So the skunk dating game continues by us. I think they enjoy eating at the restaurant (read: frat boys' overflowing trash cans and bags) next door and then come to den under our back porch. Perhaps we should start charging hourly rates.

I also saw a robin earlier this week, at work. Work is right on the waterfront and has a little park-esque area but there's also a day care center and I can't imagine birds wanting to hang around much although the kids probably drop a lot of seagull food. Maybe the robin had failed to ask for directions to a leafy suburb like Newton.

For the last couple years, I've seen robins all winter.

weve had huge herds of robins just milling about here for the last few weeks. Theyve probably been stacking up waiting for the snows to melt before pushing any further north.Weve been feeding them raisins. The ground only defrosted this week and weve had a few 60's days so things are catching up. Our very warm early winter had forced the daffodils and jonquils up and the following really cold weather has turned their l tips brown, like frostbite. I see some flower heads and the crocuses and snowdrops are blooming now.

Today I plowed our smallish kitchen garden and planted snap peas and onion sets. Ive planted the snap peas in large tomato cages that I made from old woven wire fencing we had replaced last fall. Ive got about 1/2 mile of fence rolled up and Im cutting it into 10 ft long sections to make 3ft diameter (+/-) round cages that are about 54" high and made of very thick wiring. Ive used these for tomato cages in the past from other old sections of replaced fence.Those tomato cages that you buy at a garden center just fall over as the tomato grows to its full heighth and gets heavy with fruit. These woven wire ones, I should make cages and sell to the beginning gardeners, theyll never have problems with tomatoes again, (as long as they pull the bottom leaves and suckers so the air can circulate around the bush.

Gotta go over to the Amish "Wal-Mart" to buy some seeds and a scuffle hoe.
God I feel sorry for the city folks who cant catch the vernal imperative to stick something in the ground and tend it through the seasons.

farmerman wrote :



here in eastern ontario we can't even force a spade in the ground yet .
it's raining but the ground is still frozen , so large puddles of water are forming . our neighbour , whose backyard sits about two feet lower than ours , could use a canoe right now .

we'll need about a couple of weeks of steady warm rain to "defrost" the ground . while we may try and do a bit of planting in early may , traditionally , gardening work in eastern ontario doesn't start until victoria day week-end - middle of may .

bought a box of bloodmeal at the farm-store today . the rabbits - there are two families living under our spruce trees - have been making a meal of all and any green shoots coming up . a neighbour told me , that sprinkling bloodmeal on the shoots will keep them away - i sure hope he's right .
hbg

With luck, tomorrow I'll be able to rake last year's leaves (left for mulch) along the driveway. Then I'll really be able to keep track of my little Dutch sprouts.

So...um...I've a question....

Where is Spring?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There's SNOW outside. Great gobs of it! The wind howled & shook my windows ALL NIGHT!

Is this April or am I in Twilight Zone?

I'm not happy!

Heatwave--

The winter of 2006-07 had to fight its way through balmy weather and now it is demanding its full three months on stage.

My daffodil bulbs are showing yellow and the birds are all singing courtship songs.

Right now it is 59 degrees. Now that does not seem very cold to most of you, but last week it was in the low 80s down here.

We caught the bottom end of the storm. Had about 1/2 hour of pouring rain, with pretty brisk winds, yesterday, then the sun came out. it did not go above 70 degrees. Ditto today.

We got a couple of days in the high 80's - temeratures will go down to normal April degrees (= 60 - 68) from Wednesday onwards, it is said (including the possibility of ground frost, which was a normality until May .... until recently).

Daffodils are gone here since two weeks, lilies of the valley and lilac are already blossoming (two to three weeks too early).

well, it's finally looking like Early Spring around here. Bulbs are blooming (finally!) and birds are getting chatty. Still leaves haven't unfurled and trees (with the exception of witch hazel, corneliancherry and an early crab I saw) haven't bloomed yet.

We are observing a major high tide on the cape. It's a new moon and we just had a nor'easter - the marsh behind my parents' house has totally flooded so that no grass can be seen. I took a photo an hour ago, maybe I'll take another now that the tide is peaking.

Cabin'd, cribb'd, confined.

Also lacking philosophical detachment and lofty objectivity.

eastern ontario :
woke up to about 15 cm of heavy snow this morning !
it's turned to rain now , so i won't bother pushing the snow off the driveway .
we made it back from morning swim , so don't care much what happens for rest of the day - we'll just be "lolling" about
within two weks we'll be into the 20 degree C range a/t forecast .
pix may follow .
hbg