The middle of March, one of my favorite times of the year. Spring is about to begin, according to the sun. Most years, for us, it is several weeks in. Although a few years ago, spring was still months away!
Here are the latest updates from the garden.
First, the bad news. There is something amiss in the original cold frame. It could be that slugs are eating off all the new shoots as they try to emerge, but the long and the short of it is that I am having very poor results from the herbs and greens we planted a few weeks ago.
And, as predicted, slugs are going to town on the daffodils even as they attempt to bloom. Sluggo is now out, we’ll see if the plants recover enough to blanket the lawn in gold.
Now, the good news.
On Friday when I got home, I noticed the first delicate white blossoms on the plum tree. I love the smell of the new blossoms. They remind me of the lovely rice papers from Japan we used to get when I was a child. There is an earthy, but heavenly, ground to the aroma, with only delicate high notes of fruitiness. I much prefer this sort of scent to the overblown flowery smells later in the year.
Now to back up a bit. The last couple of weeks have been very busy for me, still teaching in 7th grade! I continue to learn a lot, possibly even more than the children, and now most days I am able to enjoy at least 80% of the day and relax a little. The virus that took away my voice for a week and left me coughing for another week is gone and I am back to full health. Amazing how much more energy I have…
Grant has been working on getting caught up in school — seems he gets caught up and then “takes a break” and has to get caught up again. This may be a life pattern. Certainly, asking about his schoolwork and prompting him to get it done seems to yield very little in the way of results. And yet, when he must work, he can and does. At some point, he will either decide that it’s nice to work at a steady pace and not have to push, or he will decide he doesn’t mind last-minute dashes to finish. I prefer to avoid last-minute myself — but I recall a time in my life that I hadn’t yet come to that conclusion. And I also recall some of the disappointments that led me to my less-procrastinating “mature” self!
Last week, I was able to get a few pics on a sunny day. And the part of me that has to make choices put off posting them until I had some time. Here are a few of the nicer photos from March 9:
Ladies in waiting — almost ready for the daffodil ball, a clump of swollen flower buds.
The driveway daffodils — miniature now joined by full size.
Bok choi at one end of the cold frame, full of holes…
and lettuce at the other end of the cold frame, barely touched!
The centerpiece of the garden, lovely even in winter.
A view of the house from the road,
the trees on the opposite side of the driveway,
and Mother, coming for a visit!
One of my favorite signs of spring, love the bright red against the yellow wall!
And one last picture, of Lucky with his ball waiting to play:
I took more pictures yesterday (Friday) when I got home, but as it is now late and these are enough to enjoy, I will post more tomorrow as I take a break from writing report cards. It is one of the tasks I have dreaded doing as the “in charge” teacher, but one that is not as bad as I had feared. So far.
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