Even though it's only March there are signs of Spring around the homestead here in North Dakota. The grass is starting to green up and trees are beginning to swell with new growth. I'm expecting little green leaves to burst forth on tree limbs any day now. The honeyberries that we bought last year have already started to produce small leaves. I'll get some pics of them later this week.
The weather was wonderful again yesterday, mid-60's, sunny and warm. These are bonus days to me. Normally we'd still be knee deep in snow and yearning for warm dry weather. Now with this early Spring I can get out and start puttering around the yard - starting some Spring cleaning, tidying up the garage, building more tomato cages, completing some of the projects that never quite got completed last year, map out the perennial beds we're going to plant, etc.
You have to look pretty hard, but you can see the first tulips emerging from the ground. The tulips are a full month ahead of schedule from the last two years when they didn't emerge from the ground until mid to late April.
These are legacy leeks, already greened up and growing. Legacy isn't a variety of leeks, these are literally a family legacy. They were growing in Alycia's grandparents yard for years, then transplanted to her parents yard where they've grown for an unknown number of years. Her parents dug some up last year and brought them to us and we planted them. They go to seed in late summer/early fall and we allow them to sprout in the designated leek area (I call it LeekLand) adjacent to the compost bin. The leeks seem very hardy and don't need much in the way of winter protection. I half-assedly scattered some leaves around them in late Fall last year, but I don't think they needed it.
2 comments:
When we hit 83 degrees last week, I was stunned. Everyone here in the Rust Belt is running around in shorts and tank tops and sandals and motorcycles were in abundance.
This can't last, can it? My willow tree is almost fully leafed out and so are many of the shrubs. A deep-freeze/blizzard at this stage will make me a Sad Panda.
We're back in the 60's now, which is still way over normal. Maybe we'll all have an early spring....I guess we can all hope, right?
83 degrees? Wow. That would have been a warm March day in San Diego where I used to live.
I haven't been here long enough to say that this type of weather is unprecedented, but everyone I talk to acknowledges that it is very, very unusual. Hopefully there's no late hard freeze or blizzard this year, and I keep my eyes peeled at every long term weather forecast hoping for the best.
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