Done with winter

I’m done with winter 2018. It hasn’t been a particularly good winter, given all the below-average temperatures and the two major blizzards in March. Today is quite mild, for a change, and the snow is disappearing fast. Soon I’ll be able to walk, not wade, across the front and back lawns. It,s always a joy to get our grounds back.

I’m yearning to do some gardening, as you can see from my header. Most of those pots of basil will be for my oven-roasted tomato sauce in September, and a few I’ll give away. I bought one packet of Fedco sweet basil seeds about six years ago; the tiny seeds in that packet are still producing basil seedlings each spring. Amazing.

I noticed today that the goldfinches at my feeder are getting their yellow feathers back. That’s always a sure sign of spring. And a friend at exercise class this morning said her lilac bush is developing buds. Lilacs are still 1 1/2 months away, though. I dug up, divided, and replanted several flower bulbs last fall. I’m eager to see how they do this spring.

I’ve begun saving coffee grounds, egg shells, and banana peels. Those will help enrich the soil when I plant tomato seedlings in June. My compost bins, too, are looking ready to be emptied into the garden plot.

So my mind is on spring and flowers and planting my garden.