Spring is sooner recognized by plants than by men.

[apple_pathways]

It's coming it's coming IT'S COMING! SPRING! ♥ (And I am RIDICULOUSLY excited about it!)

The last few days have been filled with sunshine, blue skies, and 40+ degree weather. (Those of you who live in warmer climates--OH, HUSH! This is Michigan! When it hits 50, we're bustin' out the shorts and flip flops!) (Also: it's dropping back down into the 30s tomorrow, with 4 inches of snow by 7pm. BUT NO MATTER! The sun has had its effect: spring is coming again, and I couldn't be happier!)

I took the cat outside to explore this afternoon. She'd more or less forgotten what it was like to leave the house, and spent the first ten minutes walking around the patio in a circle and meowing at me, she was just so damn excited. Hell, I was excited, too! I spent the better part of an hour poking around the flower beds, checking for signs of life. I was eager to see which plants in my perennial herb garden survived the winter cold. It appears as if the lemongrass has died all the way back to the ground, but I don't know if it'll make its way back for another couple months. Ditto on the lemon verbena. The lavenders seem to have done well, and there's green beneath the snow on the oregano, sage, and the thyme. ♥

I also noticed several spring bulbs starting to come up after this week's thaw. I know better than to get excited over these first few shoots of green that poke their heads above the ground: this is Michigan, after all, and we have at least six weeks of surprise!frosts left until the spring flowers can safely emerge from their winter slumber. But still, that flash of green, that little reminder that the earth is coming back to life, is just so rejuvenating!

I planted the paperwhite bulbs one of my students gave me for Christmas, and spent the afternoon shopping for vegetable seeds. We get to pick out this summer's plot at the community garden on March 15. Things are happening!

Behind the cut, find gratuitous pictures of spring loveliness, and a photo mosaic of some of the fruit and vegetable varieties I'll be growing this summer:

First, these are paperwhites:


The plant varieties I bought seeds for today:


The plant varieties are, from L to R starting at the top:

1. Spigariello liscia greens. (Also spelled "spigarello".) An Italian 'leaf broccoli'.
   
2. Green nutmeg melon.
   
3. Émérite pole beans - a French filet-type bean.
   
4. Trionfo violetto pole beans.
   
5. Soloist cabbage - a Chinese (Napa) cabbage variety.
   
6. Carnival squash - a semi-bush 'acorn' squash variety.
   
7. Moon and Stars watermelon - an heirloom variety suggested to me by the lovely ladies at cucurbitaceae.
   
8. True chanterais melon - a French melon variety.
   
9. Small sugar pumpkin - supposedly THE pie pumpkin.

These are all new varieties I'm trying out, but I've heard good things about most of them. They're all (for the most part) heirloom varieties with a tried and true reputation for flavor and growing performance.


OMG I AM EXCITE! ♥

Comments

[switchbladesis.livejournal.com]

Heh, it got just warm enough here that there was exactly one (1) visible patch of grass on my lawn. . . and for the giant piles of snow to shed a foot or two, only to have all that water re-freeze as ice.

It was really nice on Thursday, though-I walked around on my lunch hour and enjoyed not feeling like my tearing off my face from the cold.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Your 'leaping lamb' icon is very apropos for the topic. ♥ So cute!

Yes! Very glad to shed the 'tear your face off' weather for a few days! It was amazing how quickly the snow melted: just a couple days ago, there were drifts up to my waist!

I am going to ignore that we're back to freezing temperatures next week, because they are predicting several days of SUN! It makes all the difference when you can see the sun! (Despite temps in the teens...)

Ah, I see I have another Minnesotan on my flist! Whenever I want to complain about the cold, I just remember: it could be worse! :P

[switchbladesis.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see I have another Minnesotan on my flist! Whenever I want to complain about the cold, I just remember: it could be worse! :P

Ha, that's why I keep someone from Saskatchewan around :D

[sabriel75.livejournal.com]

I AM EXCITED FOR YOU! ♥

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Guh, I just can't wait to get my hands in the dirt! (Without losing them to frostbite, that is!)

[plumeriandeity.livejournal.com]

Yay fellow Midwesterner getting excited about 40-degree weather! It's been a lovely, beautiful, sunny weekend and even the thought of more snow can't stop my happiness that spring is nearly here. Hurrah!

I can't wait to see leaves sprout on the branches again.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

It's just so nice to see the sun again after the constant dark of winter! It seeps into my bones and makes me happy. :) Leaves sprouting on the trees is one of my favorite parts of spring--it's just around the corner!

Yeah Midwesterners! We must flock together, because I've got a bunch on my flist!

[alias-amy.livejournal.com]

LOVE these photos! Your whole entry but the photos in general are just the shot of adrenaline and spring optimism I need. You should turn that collage into a postcard, it's so gorgeous.

Yay! What an awesomely happy post!

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Every so often, I'm able to muster up some optimism! XD The sunshine does that to me. (I don't care that it's supposed to drop back down into the 20s by Tuesday: there's going to be sun! ♥)

I'll tell you what, though: photo mosaics in general are perfect cheering-up activities. Here's the website where I made mine! You can hunt for the photos you want through flickr or google image image search, type in the urls for the images, and voila! They create for you an awesome photo collage.

[bwblack.livejournal.com]

I have a love hate relationship with Feb blooming. I love the february spring days, they are such a welcome relief after a could winter, but I always worry that one last frost is going to come.

Less likely in Texas where I live now but in NC/SC where I grew up the week in february that convinced the plants to start doing their thing and a late feb freeze killed peach season and nothing depressed me more than watching the plants start to bloom too early.

A late feb freezing isn't as much of a problem here, though, and I need to get my tomatoes outside and quick.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

It's not uncommon for us to get freezes through May! In fact, temps are back down to freezing today, and there's an ice storm on its way. Those little shoots aren't going to make it! But overall, the plants here are hardy, and they'll try again at the next batch of warm weather.

You're growing tomatoes already? OMG JEALOUS!!!

[bwblack.livejournal.com]

Yep, they usually go into the ground the last week of Jan first week in Feb but it's been uncommonly cold so we've kept them in longer this year.

We get two large harvests in spring and fall but it's a little hot for all but the cherries in the middle of the summer.

Blueberries also bloom spring and fall.

[lemniciate.livejournal.com]

Aww, I'm so jealous of your sunshine right now, all we've had is rain for ages. Those plants look amazing though *___*

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Let's hope they look that good when I try to grow them. ;)

A few days of sunshine really does wonders for the mood! We're due for an ice storm today, but the sunshine will be back by Tuesday--I don't even care that the temps will be below freezing so long as the sun is out!

[jobey-in-error.livejournal.com]

Your excite-ness is INFECTIOUS... I think it's the lovely pictures!

Spring doesn't mean anything to me this year because I'm in coastal Southern California. Yes, everyone else has complained about a handful of sub-60-degree days, but it's been sunny all the way through. I barely noticed. It's been nice, but I guess I don't get the fun of spring! At least, NOT UNTIL I SEE ALL THOSE AWESOME PICS.

What's "heirloom" varieties mean? (I get that they're good, but... yeah. That's all I got from context.)

It's awesome that you grow all that stuff. :D

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I got the chance to convey my excitement, because already we're back to blizzards! Almost half a foot of snow fell in the last few hours, and it's still coming down! BOO! But whatever...I'm doing my damndest to maintain the excitement! (Due to the SNOMG! making for an extra long drive home from a play this afternoon, I got to have a nice long chat with one of my gardening buddies about which vegetables we're trying out this summer. ♥)

"Heirloom" plants are those that were cultivated during earlier periods of human history, before the advent of modern commercial farming practices, and aren't grown now as part of commercial production. There's no exact standard for what makes an "heirloom" variety: the website I ordered from uses varities grown before 1950 as a standard.

The thing is, only a handful of fruit and vegetable varieties are grown commercially. Commercial growers select crops based on certain characteristics: high yield, ability to be mechanically picked, pest and disease resistance, resistance to chemical pest- and herbicides, ability to be shipped long distances, etc. While these traits might provide the best fruits and vegetables for commercial agriculture, things like flavor, nutrition and variety are often sacrificed.

Because heirloom varities were cultivated and developed over long periods of time, they're often naturally suited to the environments in which they were grown: temperature, soils, pests, diseases, etc.

Basically, heirloom varieties are a welcome change from half-ripe, hard, flavorless supermarket produce that's grown to withstand a beating, and not necessarily to be the tastiest or most nutritious! If you have a local growers'/farmers' market near you, you could give some of these 'heirlooms' a try! ('Heirloom' is becoming very trendy; especially 'heirloom' tomatoes. Despite my hatred of all these trendy, they really are worth a taste!)

[jacknjill270.livejournal.com]

OMG ME TOO! I live in northern IL and we've just started having some nice days too. Us crazy Midwesterners, our first day in the 40s and I saw people out in t-shirts. But if it got down to 70s in July we'd all be complaining about how cold it was. *shakes head*

Those paperwhites are so pretty! I am so, so ready for spring.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

It was nice while it lasted, but we got about half a foot of snow this afternoon! :P

I was driving through Detroit with my friend the other night, and we saw people standing out on the corner in T-shirts. Oh, midwesterners: a little bit of sun, and we just lose our damn minds! ♥

[tierfal.livejournal.com]

Wow. I, uh, wow. XD'''' SURPRISE!FROSTS? WINTER DESTRUCTION? ENDLESS SNOW? .___.

Apparently Northern Californians actually tend to survive pretty well in other climates, but I've never tried for any length of time, so. Yes. It all sounds kind of intimidating, lol. XD

omg, paperwhites are SO pretty! And I'm pretty sure you're going to have the badassest garden known to man once things start coming up.

I AM EXCITE, TOO! KEEP US POSTED, Y/Y/Y? :D

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

You have no idea! After my excite-filled post of spring happenings, we got 9 inches of snow yesterday. BOO!

You'd be surprised how well you can adapt! I've known plenty of folks from warmer climes make the jump to Michigan's schizophrenic weather. It's the first winter that's the hardest. ;)

Posted you shall be! Oh trust me--by the end of this summer, you are going to be SO SICK of starting at pictures of plants!