Gardening

Signs of Spring

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Finally, we are edging towards warmer days. The last week or two we’ve had a series of warmer days, though yesterday we dipped back into the 30s and 40s and I was shivering once again, but we’re on the upswing. Soon I’ll be dripping in sweat when I step outside—thanks high humidity!

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I’m ok with that, though. Give me tank tops, shorts, and flip flops any day. The bright side is that all of the tropical plants are providing a flush of green to the garden after hibernating inside for more of the winter than usual.

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But the fig tree they all hang on is putting on leaf buds and soon the side yard garden will be shady once again. I’m always amazed at how it can go from an open canopy to dense and lush in the height of summer.

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Formosa lilies poking out of the ground.

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Brown and crunchy for now, but at the base of a lot of that is new growth!

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Looks like a coreopsis seedling to me.

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Much work needs to be done and my lunch breaks will start to be dedicated to cutting back and prepping for growth from now on.

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Out in the edible garden, we’re rolling in greens. Still loving the Florida broadleaf mustard.

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It has been a spectacular year for spinach! Normally we struggle with germination and thriving but this year it was cold enough for the spinach to grow well.

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All of the parsley seemed to germinate and grow rather slowly back in the fall but it has survived the ice and freezes just fine.

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And now the kohlrabi is beginning to produce bulbs. I’m really looking forward to having some of these in a month or two!

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The mustard spinach took a bit to get established, having fought off snails and various caterpillars back when it was beginning to grow in the fall but these last few weeks have shown tremendous growth.

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My cabbage appears to want to start producing heads…finally. It’s been slow going on those, too.

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My trusty garden helper!

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Having all of the greens available during this time of year is so wonderful. It’s too bad I’m having to buy onions and tomatoes at the store to have a good salad, but such is life here in zone 9.

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I need to tie up some of the blackberry canes and trim up a few dead canes I didn’t get to last summer. Otherwise they are primed for flowering here in a few months. I’m already thinking about what I will do with the harvest this year—we have a lot of jam still from last year—so make a small batch of jam and then freeze the rest we don’t eat fresh?

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Lacinato kale

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Forest is anxiously awaiting carrots once again. He ate all of the ones I planted for him in the fall and now we’re waiting on Chris’ batch to be ready to pull.

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I was delighted to see the strawberries blooming a week or so ago! That was the biggest sign of spring I had seen so far. *phew*

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And the rhododendrons are budding, too. Can’t wait!

I’m keeping an eye out around the area for redbud blooms but no such luck quite yet!

Any signs of spring where you are?

One Comment

  • Joan

    Love seeing your signs of spring! We’ve had a few warmish days, definitely warmer than last year at this time. Nice that the days are getting longer.

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