Thursday, March 16, 2017

As I Emerge From A Pollen-Coma

I talked about how every year there's a false spring in February that makes me want to go outside and start planting. I forgot to mention that every year, immediately following the warm weather, the plants also get excited and FLOOD the city with pollen. This means that I spend the next week or two in bed, my sinuses so irritated that it feels like my face will crawl off my skull.

So I didn't get into the garden much in the following weeks. Just a couple of times to check on the chickens before retreating to the house and my benadryl.

But spring marched on without me and, washing dishes yesterday, I was thrilled to look out the kitchen window and see that some of the apple trees budding out!


Not only that, the asparagus that struggled last year (mostly because of the chickens. I blame the chickens) has sent up 2 spears!I am absolutely thrilled with this as I was pretty sure that none of the asparagus I had planted last year had survived.
 Even more surprising, it looks like we have a new guest in the garden. At some point during the winter, a gnome settled into a corner of the wall. I managed to sneak a picture of him as he was sweeping his porch. Well, I'm happy to let him stay as long as he doesn't disturb the plants.
Apparently hummingbirds are back in the city (seems early) so I should try putting out a feeder again. I'm really bad about keeping bird feeders full, especially hummingbirds. In the past I've made a big batch of nectar for them and kept it in the fridge. But it takes a lot of shelf space and spoils before I use it all. So this year I'll try making small batches as I need them. But more on that (with photos) later.

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