Quote of the Day: Julian Grenfell
The naked earth is warm with Spring, and with green grass and bursting trees leans to the sun’s kiss glorying, and quivers in the sunny breeze.
~Julian Grenfell
Spring has been a little late in coming this year to Chiot’s Run. Usually by now we’re seeing tulips and a few blooming trees. This year the daffodils have just started and the soil has just thawed enough to plant peas & potatoes. A full month after the “usual” planting time.
In spring it seems that sky is always bluer, the sunsets more golden and the grass greener than you’ve ever seen before. I definitely appreciate living in an area where each season is very distinct! I think I appreciate the warmth of the sun as much as the grass does, I feel like I grow taller with each hour I spend in the sun. Perhaps refilling my stores of Vitamin D after the long dark winter.
What do you appreciate most about the spring weather?
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Cheating Your Zone
It’s always sad when you find a plant you want to grow but it’s not hardy to your Northern climate (I’m sure it’s equally frustrating for you Southern gardeners who can’t grow plants that need chill hours). There are ways that you can cheat an extra zone or two with a few techniques like planting on a south facing slope, covering with mulch and protecting plants with styrofoam cones, or burlap. Another great way is to surround plants with rocks. The rocks will absorb heat from the sun and then radiate that heat to keep the plant warmer. It creates a microclimate that helps plants survive in a climate a little out of their zone.
I have this beautiful Mediterranean Pink Heather growing on my front hillside. It’s technically not hardy in my zone 5 as it’s a zone 6-7. I have a few that hrive on my front hillside which faces south and that are surrounded by very large rocks. I never really thought about this until I planted a few in the back garden which are struggling. Then I realized that they aren’t on a south facing slope and they’re not surrounded by large rocks, I’ll have to move a few that survived. One year I had a black eyed Susan vine survive in my front flowerbed, most likely because of the heavy layer of mulch and it was under a rock because these are a zone 10-11.
Do you ever cheat the seasons with rocks, south facing slopes, mulch, or other forms of protection?
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Friday Favorite: Spring Cleanup
There’s something especially exhilarating about spring cleanup in the garden. I think it has something to do with us Northerners being cooped up in our houses for the long dark months of winter. When we have a few nice warm sunny days, spring cleanup begins in the garden. I always wait until I know really hard freezes are over, as I’d hate to uncover my perennials only to have them freeze again on a cold night.
Yesterday was perfect, sun, blue skies, high around 60 – simply perfect. I spent the morning inside working and then made my way outside around 1 when it had warmed up and the sun was high in the sky. It sure was nice to feel the sun on my back as I cleared the leaves out of the flowerbeds, unwrapped the hydrangeas and weeded the raised beds.
I especially love peeling back the leaves that mulched the beds throughout the winter and seeing the soil teeming with life. I saw tons of spiders, worms, beetles, wooly bears, caterpillars, grubs and all sorts of creepy crawlies. I’m happy to see each and every one of them, including those giant wolf spiders, because I know each and every one of them, whether good or bad, plays an important role in my garden.
What’s your favorite garden chore in the spring?
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The Big Spring Thaw
It seems to happen overnight. One day you bundle up when you head outside, protecting your skin from dry cold harsh wind. The next day you wake up to the sound of the snow melting from the warm sun dripping from the eaves of the house.
The snow edges away from the grass and the rocks, receding into the earth. It will come again, a few times more, but it won’t stick around for long after the first big thaw.
You head outside and the air once again has a scent, fresh, clean and earthy, the sun actually feels warm on your face. The ground feels slightly soft under your feet, you know spring will not be long in coming.
Soon enough, you can start working in the garden, clearing away the leaves, cleaning up the branches that fell during the ice storms, unwrapping the hydrangeas to awaken from their long winter slumber. You can’t get too ahead of yourself or you may uncover something too quickly only to get zapped by a late freeze.
Spring doesn’t officially arrive until late March and there is still much winter weather to come, especially here in NE Ohio. We’ll still have snow, frost, freezes and weather down in the single digits. There’s just something about the first big thaw of the year, it invigorates the gardeners soul.
What is the big event that signals the coming of spring for you?
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Sometimes the Light is Just Right
During the dark days of winter I’m always happy to see the sun poking through the trees in the morning, but some mornings the sun seems especially warm. There’s something so wonderful about seeing the warm yellow tones of the sun against the cold bluish cast of the snow, especially on a sub-zero morning with a fresh layer of glittery snow that fell overnight. These kinds of morning make me bundle up in Mr Chiot’s big wool hunting coat and HUGE hunting boots (quite a sight for the neighbors I’m sure) to head out to grab a few quick photos before my fingers freezer to my camera. This past Tuesday was one such morning, I wish every winter morning was this lovely, although not this cold!
What can make you get out of your comfortable little nest into the elements to experience something lovely? a thunderstorm, a hurricane?
