You may need a strong magnifying glass to see them, but my chives are sprouting! I leave the old, dead clump of last-of-the-season chives as a mulch on the plants over winter so have to watch carefully to get the dead stuff cleaned up and off before the chives show much growth. Looks like it's about time to do that right now. Good old reliable chives . . . the first greens!
Most of the snow has disappeared from the raised beds and although the soil is saturated with moisture right now, it won't be long before the beds will dry out enough to be workable. I'm going to be planting some cool weather crops under cold frames on top of the raised beds very early this year.The mulched area beyond the beds in the picture is my strawberry patch that is within the field garden. I wonder if I'll be able to uncover them early? If so, we might be looking at an early start to the berry harvest this year.
It's really too early for it to be spring-like up here near the tundra but with our overnight temps staying at 40 degrees and in the 60s out in the sun today, it sure feels like spring. We have doors and windows open and are reveling in the fresh, warm air.
Oh, those first days you get to open the windows to let the fresh air in is soooooo wonderful!
ReplyDeleteSo, you leave the old chives there for mulching purposes, right? How funny, I also do that (well, maybe because I'm lazy and never got around to ripping up stuff in the fall)!
I'm not as far in the northland as you (southwestern Michigan) but my "spring-like" pics would look about the same minus the snow. Sixties today, though, and mid-seventies for the rest of the week. Unbelievable!
ReplyDeleteI discovered my chives coming up, too! And I leave the old stuff as mulch, too. I also discovered a couple of green garlic tops popping up through the straw mulch. Heaven! We've had very unseasonably warm weather, too. But I am waiting for the other (snow)shoe to drop.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah!! This weather is so wierd. I completely missed the sap run this year, if there was one.
ReplyDeleteI have to go out and check out my chives. Green already?
WINDOWS OPEN,DONE,SPRING PLANTING ,DONE ,YA RIGHT,WHERE DO YOU THINK I LIVE FLORIDA. AND MY BINOCULARS DON'T WORK VERY WELL ON A COMPUTER BUT I GET THE POINT,CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HOW EARLY YOU REALLY WILL START THE GARDEN
ReplyDeleteCR - Aw, come on. I know you purposely left the dead stuff there for mulch! You can't fool me!
ReplyDeleteKristen - The weather has been waaaay too warm all over the country. It makes me very uneasy . . .
Susan - We were just talking this morning about the fact that we truly COULD get one heckuva big dump of snow yet. But as Papa Pea said, "Not in this 60 degree weather!"
odiie - If my chives are poking through, I'm sure yours are!
judy - Me, too! However, I might get knocked right on my butt if we get a surprise big snow yet!
You are making me excited about spring this year! I'm going to get outside and look for some green. The crocuses are always the first up.
ReplyDeleteLooks about the same here. But, I could swear the lawn has a green sheen to it :-) I've got to go check the chives tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteOooh! I see it! I see the green! Isn't it glorious? (When you're from MN, you'll take any green you can when you're itching for the real spring to take hold, right?)
ReplyDeleteI knew those chives of yours would be showing up soon!
ReplyDeleteSparkless - I'll bet you find the crocuses coming up already.
ReplyDeletedr momi - Papa Pea reported that he saw a little bit of green grass (!) in the poultry pasture where the snow has melted.
Mama Tea - I'm sure bloggers in the southern part of the country who have had green all winter think we're absolutely nuts to get so excited about something like chives that are all of 1/4" tall! And GREEN!
Erin - I was so surprised to see them this early. It is gonna be an EARLY spring!
We've got trees budding like mad down here. My perennials are coming up and they're saying we may hit 80 soon! Eeek! Too early, too early, too early.
ReplyDeleteOur luck it will be a cold, miserable May. But I hope I'm wrong and we really get an early spring.
Judy
We are enjoying the better and early spring too:) Have fun planting!
ReplyDeleteJudy - I think the warmer than usual weather all winter - not only this spring! - has thrown a lot of us off. Can we believe the way it feels out there? Or should we keep from packing away our heavy jackets and snow boots? As you said, Eeeeek!
ReplyDeleteStephanie - In reality, I probably won't be able to plant anything, even under a cold frame, for a couple/few weeks yet. And then it would still be pushing it. (But I think I'm gonna do it anyway. ;o] )
I don't have a veggie garden so all I see coming up in the yard at present are day lilies. I too left the dead bits for mulch - yeah that's it.... ;)
ReplyDeleteNope, it doesn't look like spring at your place. I reckon we're all wondering what kind of summer we'll have. If it isn't chickens, its feathers.
ReplyDeleteMama Pea,
ReplyDeleteWe are having unseasonably warm weather too! All the fruit trees think it's late April. I'm loving the weather but concerned we'll get a late freeze and lose fruit crops for the year....
Jen - Mulch is good, mulch is good, mulch is . . . Especially if the mulch is made of dead weeds or old flower stalks, right? ;o}
ReplyDeleteLeigh - Unfortunately, I have a feeling this summer is going to be as topsy-turvy as the past several seasons have been!
Poppy - I know! The early blossoms are always a worry. But we still can't control the weather so whadda ya gonna do??