Happy Spring!
It’s officially Spring and there is so much happening in the garden that there is little time to write about it. The plum and nectarine blossoms of last month are doing a slow fade-out and I almost don’t notice because perky young leaves are taking over the show. While carting around plants or weeds, I’m often stopped by the delight of tiny leaf buds, like on the figs (I can’t help talking to them in baby-talk voice) or catching sight of the willow trees with their dangling sprays with pixel-size green buds.
Newly opened freesias in the porch containers offer a perfumed greeting whenever I go outside. I couldn’t help picking a few and have them near me on my desk now while I catch up with this blog in the night hours.
The koi and goldfish are getting more vigorous–very eager for the spring increase of food. I need to put the new pond net on. The current one has holes and I saw an enormous blue heron flying over recently. The fish pond has other protections as well, but I’ll write about that another time. I wonder if we’ll get koi babies again this year?
The weeds and field grasses are growing at Olympic speeds, as they always do this time of year, and they will probably outgrow our attempts at weeding and mowing until until around July, when the summer-dry climate slows everything down that isn’t irrigated.
We have gotten a little more rain, but we are still far behind normal. The seasonal pond is still dry, but the frogs are calling out for mates from the stock tanks we have around as backup for them. One frog croaks loudly from the ceramic basin outside my door. I spotted it with a flashlight a few nights ago, then quickly left it to its mission. In the morning there were what looks like new frog eggs. A friend in a nearby town who has a large and glorious year-round pond sent me an audio recording of her frogs in chorus. This brought a big smile, and actually, I’m smiling again now just writing about it.
Today I cleaned out the greenhouse. It’s quite old and rotting in places and the insulated greenhouse panels were really dirty. I got a bucket of water and the window cleaning scrubber on an extension pole. As I went along cleaning the panels, I noticed the bucket water becoming an unusual blackish color, and I finally realized it was probably the ash and smoke grime from last years wildfires. I really had to scrub to get it off. Now, I just need to sweep the pavers in the greenhouse and it will be ready for tender plants and veggie seedlings awaiting the last frost date.
This Spring also brings the hope that we will all be able to see our friends and family again soon. Some friends and family of mine have had one or both of their vaccine shots. I’m not on the docket yet, but hoping by May. We’ll probably all fall on each other’s necks and sob with joy, yes? Meanwhile, keep staying safe a little longer! Be well.
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I agree that spring is speeding up, its certainly impossible to keep up. We have our frogs that croak to each other and it is impossible to listen to them without laughing. Amelia
Hi Amelia! What is it about frogs that is so delightful? It makes me happy to hear about your frogs and the joy they bring. Great to hear from you, as always. Happy Spring! -lisa