The Birds Know
Spring! This morning there are six robins pecking at the sumac outside my window, and the first purple finch is enjoying one of our feeders. Do they have calendars? The vernal equinox occurred at 12:15 PM yesterday our time, and here these new birds are today. For months we’ve enjoyed watching juncos, chickadees, a cardinal pair, bluejays and mourning doves. There are new birds in town now.
Several weeks ago I noticed that the sun was warming to my face, no matter the blasting wind gusts or the low temperatures. Similarly, the birds knew something had changed, and their chirping changed to singing.
Saved
Spring. Today is the first full day of spring, and whatever the weather, we can breathe a sigh of relief. We’re alive and we made it through the winter. Although our hills and yards are covered with snow, and we’re due for a little more tonight, it won’t last. The sun is too strong. So strong now that on a sunny day, the temperature in my study rises to the high 70s with the room heat turned off.
Hope Springs
This week is very like all those first weeks of school: hope is high, plans are made, ambition runs rampant. My mind races with plans to create a true pollinator habitat in our field, complete with three seasons of blooming flowers for nectar and pollen for butterflies and bees. Milkweed for the Monarch butterflies. A habitat for the overwintering Swallowtail chrysalis.
The indoor seed germination kit is up and running, the lights and the heating mat are on. The peas—pisum—and lettuce seeds planted. My hope and ambition outpace skill, but that is what spring is for, and there is guidance: The Victory Garden is open to the chapter, “March.”
Outdoor house projects will commence next month, but March has to be devoted to plants and the thirst for the sight of flowers, the snowdrop the first among them. Bedding plants are on order, so is fencing for a new garden in the field. Visions of more fruit trees dance in my head. Wisteria drip from an imagined trellis. Roses and clematis twine and bloom. There are no beetles or black spot to mar their beauty.
Head Over Heels
Am I carried away? Oh, yes. As the heads of the daffodils and lilies poke through the frost, it’s love at first sight.
Memory tempers my lust. I know from experience that I will have failures, disappointments, and slugs as we round into summer. I remember that each August brings a great, hot fatigue to me, and a longing for winter, or at least crisp, fall days.
No Regrets
Today, though, is the first full day of spring. If I swear that I won’t buy too many plants and plant them too close together, will the gardening gods spare me? It doesn’t matter. Today, there are no regrets.
https://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/garden/monthly-garden-calendar-northeastern-united-states
https://ag.umass.edu/landscape/publications-resources/umass-extensions-garden-calendar