April 9, 2020

Spring Has Sprung

Everything started turning green about a month earlier than usual.

Dogwood blooming as the wood lot greens up.

The goats are happy with the fresh forage and the cats are happy with the warmer weather.

Ellie with two of her triplets. Meowy flying in the background.

The only question was whether to take a risk and plant the summer garden early, or wait until our traditional last frost date.

Most of my winter greens have gone to flower, but the
lettuce is doing well. Shown here with fava beans, and garlic. 

Fall planted fava beans. I lost about half, but
the ones that survived are blooming like crazy.

Lone lacinato kale with flowering radishes.

Multiplier onions.

And in that multiplier onion bed. . .

A volunteer potato!

I decided to wait. Here's a look at what we're enjoying these days.

Apple blossoms. That's our winter wheat in the background.

Pear blossoms

Mulberry. Immature berries look hopefully numerous.

One of our two redbuds. This one may have to come down
because it shades the solar panels in the late afternoon.

Bridal wreath.

Periwinkle starting to bloom.
Yarrow.


Newly budding oak leaves against a beautiful blue sky.

The weather forecast for the weekend includes another cold front coming through with rain and nighttime lows back in the 30s. That's okay because I don't want it to get too hot too quickly. I'd like to enjoy spring for as long as we can!

How about you? How's April treating you so far?

UPDATE: The second photo of the goats and Meowy received some comments that led to this. . .

SuperMeowy!

Spring Has Sprung
 © April 2020 by Leigh

26 comments:

Boud said...

We're getting a real spring. The blossoms are lovely and have not been frost nipped, so they're lasting. And the wildlife is positively sassy with the lack of traffic. Yesterday on my walk I came across a group of rabbits who stood their ground, didn't dash away. And a groundhog likewise, glaring at me for being near his home! And the reduced air traffic is giving us cloudless blue skies. That part of life is wonderful.

Seeking Serenity said...

Meowy!! I knew she was a superhero ! :D

Leigh said...

Boud, it's always best to look on the bright side!

SS, She is! :)

Woolly Bits said...

we're much behind it seems, no flowering apples here yet! but the weather isn't bad now, some sun, temps up a little bit, the outlook isn't bad either! we had so much rain that I don't mind a few drier weeks. the only thing I have to water now are the blueberries in the big pots! they bear more fruits along the house wall - but they do need watering nearly all the time! whatever it takes to get blueberries;) and the seeds in the greenhouse are sprouting as well - very soon I can spend a few days pricking out my little baby plants....
have a good easter, despite everything that's going on!
Bettina

Ed said...

Loved the picture of the goats with the cat flying through the air in the background. For some reason it just tickled my funny bone.

I think spring will be here a bit early this year too. My serviceberry is starting to bloom and the grass is definitely green and growing. But for me, the first thing is hunting for morels and I hope to perhaps slip down into the woods this weekend and see if any early grays are poking up.

Florida Farm Girl said...

The trees here seem to sprout more leaves exponentially every night. Pollen is rough right now. One of my clematis is in full bloom. Early I think. We'll see how long before the other two bloom. Azaleas in full bloom and that's right. After our dreary rainy winter I am so glad to see this sunshine and green colors. Stay safe. Love the kiddos. They are so cute.

Leigh said...

Bettina, I think you've always been behind me, haven't you? Nice that you have a greenhouse! That helps when spring is slow to come. Happy Easter to you too!

Ed, I didn't know Meowy was on that photo until I uploaded it to my computer. It tickles me too, because that's her personality in a nutshell! She has only two gears - speed or sleep. :)

I forgot about your morels! Lucky you. I hope it's an abundant year for them.

FFG, spring is indeed welcome! Hopefully, it will stay a long while and summer will be late. :)

wyomingheart said...

We are slightly cooler than you are, I think, because we don’t have much blooming in the woods. The red buds are just starting to show here. I was going to work in the garden this week, but I think we will postpone for a week. The garden beds are looking good for you! We have some strawberry on, and a lot of blooms, so I am hoping the cold front doesn’t hurt them. Your winter wheat looks great. How long have you had lettuce planted? Have a terrific day!

Goatldi said...

I pulled out the kale last week as it was going to seed. The snap peas are still producing but a bit rough I believe because the plants have been in the ground since early October.

The spinach looked on its way out after my last picking . But with another round or two of rain is growing again.

Genna is visiting for a week and we will be doing yard work and hopefully getting the DYI above ground garden in place. May not get planted until May as we have rain projected periodically through April. Accompanied with lower temps at night. No place for babies 😊

You need to photo enhance Meowy with a cape on her with a M on the back. Love it as the goats are thinking “whatever!”

Lady Locust said...

I too love the "flying Meowy." :-)
There are certain things to plant when the apple blossoms fall, I have them written down as I can't remember from year to year. I figure Mother Nature knows better than I do.

Leigh said...

Wyomingheart, the lettuce was started in seed trays last September. So it's done really well. I've planted a heat tolerant variety directly in a bed, but so far nothing's growing.

I should have gotten a picture of the wheat! I still can. It's patchy, but doing well where it is growing. It's just starting to form seed heads, so hopefully, we'll be harvesting in a month or two.

Goatldi, I love the cape idea for Meowy! I'll see what I cna do (in all my spare time, LOL) I take it the previous owners planted a garden? Nice to have had a fall garden until now.

Lady Locust, I've heard various sayings about when to plant, but none have ever stuck with me either. Even so, volunteers always seem to do best.

Mama Pea said...

Haha, you probably can guess how our April is going. But what *is* going is the snow (!) and that's a good thing! The long range 10-day forecast is for night time temps down in the low 20s. So much for my prediction of an early spring for us this year. I guess I'm just an optimist. But not a very bright one. :o\ Your greenery, plants and blossoms are gorgeous.

Cockeyed Jo said...

Although it's been notorious around here to get a hard freeze and even snow on Easter, we decided to chance it and started planting two weeks ago. Even with the cold snap we had, it wasn't too bad. Get busy gal! We honestly faced with running out of food here. That any the almost 80 degree weather was my deciding factor.

Toirdhealbheach Beucail said...

Love the flower pictures!

I have debated about the Spring Garden too. We still keep waffling back and forth between late winter and early summer. I may try in two weeks.

tpals said...

We had snow again this morning. On the other hand, my sister in Texas hit 97 degrees yesterday! I'd rather keep the wood stove burning instead of deal with that kind of heat.

Love all the pictures. You are surrounded by beauty.

Leigh said...

Mama Pea, by the time you're enjoying spring, we'll be wilting from the scorching heat! ;)

Jo, I saw that photo of your near-empty pantry on your blog! I pray you'll have a bountiful garden this year to make up for last summer. I do have some things planted: Dan planted potatoes in containers, I have sweet potatoes in jars for sprouting, my snow peas are up, I have tomatoes and peppers in seed trays, and I put watermelons, bush beans, and cucumbers in the ground yesterday. If it does frost, it will be before these are up. So I think we'll be okay!

TB, do you usually have a rainy spring and early summer? That's always part of my indecision. Can't plant too early because of frost, but can't plant too late because of early heat waves! Always a guessing game.

tpals, what a contrast! I'm not a fan of that kind of heat either. That's the main reason we left Texas in the first place.

Retired Knitter said...

Wow you are blooming big time. Lovely shots of greens and flowers.

Goatldi said...

No the previous owners were not gardens. In fact I am left wondering on many fronts why they left the city for the country.

The veggies I speak of are my inherited 60 gallon stock tanks that are not useful in their original manner. They leak. I planted them last Fall.

Leigh said...

RT, thanks! It's truly a lovely time of year. :)

Goatldi, what a great idea to use leaky stock tanks! Waste not want not!

Cockeyed Jo said...

Leigh, Looks can be deceiving. That's not including my dehydrated stores and freezer stock piles. We'll be fine. Of course, it turned cooler today, just in time for Easter. I draped sheets over the plants to keep them warm yesterday. No snow yet, thank God. So they should be fine. I've got to invest in some row covers one day. Luckily, I repurpose old sheets for this purpose.

Leigh said...

Jo, that's good to know!

I use sheets as frost protectors too! We got down to 38 last night; no pockets of frost anywhere. That should be the worst of it till next fall.

Chris said...

Bless Meowy's little heart. There's a spring yard to conquer!! Butterflies to chase, crawling things to pounce, and green grass to chew before deciding maybe that wasn't such a good idea - and tries to bring it up again, lol. Enjoy your spring, as the Northern Hemisphere wakes up again. Here in the Southern Hemisphere, it's just starting to get cold enough at night, for soups and roasts again. It will soon be time to don the Ugg boots. :)

Goatldi said...

Thank you.

Leigh said...

Chris, it's always interesting to see our contrast in seasons!

Goatldi, you're welcome!

Kristin said...

Spring is slowly making her way north. I jumped the gun and started a ton of seeds inside and am now paying the price. But I also have done a ton of research on gardening and we've added egg layers back to the homestead. I also saw your blog post about the TLC book tour. That is neat! I just signed up for that. How fun! I'm glad you are doing well.

Leigh said...

Kristin, I just looked at your seed tray photo on your blog. Oh my, that's a lot of seed markers! Good for you for doing your research. The next part is experimenting to see what grows best for you. I'm still experimenting, but having some old faithfuls really helps!

You will enjoy the TLC book tour! I have! Glad you signed up.