Thursday, March 22, 2012

Pathetic I Know . . .

But it's still so very early for us to be this far along into spring that I had to show you. Our signs of a very early spring are far behind most of you elsewhere in the country, but because it's still about 6 weeks ahead of a normal year for us this far north, I have to document with these pics.

I do believe you could actually see these little buggers (otherwise known as chives) growing if you sat down and watched. The tallest are about 6" high now.

The Leopard's Bane are my earliest flowers to show greenery each spring.

The lilac bushes are budding out.

The buds on the apple trees are about the very same size as the lilacs right now.

We had an all-day rain yesterday (with more forecast for tomorrow) and our rain gauge showed 1/2" which was great to get. Not a huge amount but it came down very gently and soaked into the ground so none of it was lost to run-off. I'm pretty sure it must have taken care of the last of the frost in the ground, too.

Got another post up over on my quilting blog tonight. It was Thursday today, you know, and that means Mama Pea tries to quilt all day!

15 comments:

Carolyn said...

Green, as small as it may seem, is ALWAYS a nice thing to see! Maybe a bit early, but hey, I'll take it whenever or wherever I can get it. Yup, vegetative slut I am.

Sparkless said...

Wow fresh chives! We are still behind you though. Although I did see some green stuff coming up. It keeps snowing and then melting so that's slowing early growth down.

Anonymous said...

Our apple trees are budding too, along with the azaleas and the magnolia tree. They are in for a shock this weekend though, when it starts getting back to the 40's during the day and 20's at night.

Sue said...

Hi Mama Pea-just arrived home last night to find the lilacs leafed out, the garlic was 8" tall and the daffodils were in full bloom. And yes, a full 6 weeks ahead of schedule! Nutty!
We had been a full 40 degrees above normal. What if that happens in July??????????????
Have a great weekend!
Sue

judy said...

You are so important in peoples lives ,the first thing they think of in the morning ,is ,go find mamma pea,see what shes up to.I GUESS I'M NOT THE ONLY NUT,LOOK AT THE TIME PEOPLE ARE POSTING,DOES EVERYONE HAVE SLEEPING PROBLEMS I SAY AS I'M YAWNING--LOL OH DEAR,THERE WENT THE CAPS LOCK,SOMEONE DISCONNECT THAT THING

Erin said...

Wow I can't believe the buds on that lilac already, and the apple trees too!

Mama Pea said...

CR - Doesn't matter that we're having an early spring. After winter (no matter what the length), those first green shoots are always so welcomed!

Sparkless - I usually do my cutting of chives for the freezer as soon as they grow to their first, full bunch . . . in May! Looks like that will happen waaaay earlier this year!

Stephanie - Yup, we're forecast the same low temps for this coming week. Eeeek!

Sue - Well, welcome back home! I sure have missed you. Did you miss me? No, huh? Okay, I'll forgive you as you were on vacation. ;o}

judy - Thankfully I FINALLY slept well last night. Not so the two nights before. Wednesday night I was up from midnight (after going to sleep at 10 p.m.) until 5!! UGH.

Erin - I'm glad they're not any further along because of the chilly weather forecast for the coming week. Crazy, nutty, unpredictable weather this year . . . still. Yet. Again.

Anonymous said...

Mama Pea, is your Leopard's Bane the same as the yellow flowered Arnica Montana (aka the herb used in muscle linaments and arthritic creams)? What a wonderful first flower!-"M"

Susan said...

Boy, we will take whatever we can, won't we? I swear my chives grow while I watch! My garlic's coming up and I peeled off the mulch to check on the strawberries - but I will be rolling right back, as there are mumblings about frost next week.

dr momi said...

Well....where the heck are my chives?????

Mama Pea said...

"M" - I thought they were the same but I Googled it just to check. We are both right. But in looking at pictures, the leaves on some varieties of Leopard's Bane look more "spear-ish" than the "lily pad" looking ones of my plant. Perhaps there are different varieties of Leopard's Bane??

Susan - I've avoided uncovering my strawberries thus far, too. And, yes, we too are supposed to dip down in temp this coming week. Eeeek. Just so it doesn't snow three feet. (Bite my tongue!)

dr momi - Indeed! Get out there and FIND them. They should be showing by now!

Leigh said...

Gosh, I wish I could send you some of my spring greenery. With no winter, all my weeds kept growing all winter long! My garden has gotten quite out of hand.

Unknown said...

Thanks for showing us your green. Isn't it an odd year huh? I swore I left a comment earlier. Hey watch out for a sneak frost. Now I am thinking of the music hand chive...lol

Amy Dingmann said...

Amazingly early spring we are having. The green is so welcome! I think your blotches of green and beautiful and so lovely to see, no matter how lax our winter was. :)

Mama Pea said...

Leigh - I know . . . I've been looking at your post pictures all winter and marveling at the greenery you have! But I kinda sorta think it's a good thing (at least for me) to have that winter break from outside work. At least all the weeds die down over winter . . . but boy, do they come on like gangbusters first thing in the spring!

Nancy - Don't look now, but they say we're going to be down to 22 degrees at night this coming week. Eeeeek.

Mama Tea - Yup, now that we've all had this taste of spring, we're more than ready to say good-bye to Old Man Winter and get on with the growing season!