thinking about Spring

It's January

Right now it's not so cold that we have frost on the tree -- in fact what we do have is brown snow

Last weekend we had snow, and since our back yard faces north, the snow takes a long time to melt from there

and since there is construction going on in the field right behind us, the 50 mph winds we've had for a couple of days has turned what's left of the snow and ugly, dirty looking brown

I wish it would either finish melting or we'd get new snow (I can't believe I said I wanted snow!)




All of which has me thinking about Spring --

and Summer --

and gardens

Have you ever noticed how the seed catalogs start to arrive right after New Year's?

I'm thinking I'm not the only one that needs a bit of a lift and there's nothing quite so uplifting as thinking about eating yummy stuff right out of my own yard

We got some new catalogs this year -- my favorite being the one that came from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds --- the art work is adorable, the seed prices are reasonable and they have seeds for some plants I remember from my childhood and you can't get anywhere locally

We've worked up a list of what we're going to order, and soon we'll be going out and measuring the space then working up drawings of what will get planted where

Funny, we've lived in this house now for 7 years (the longest I've lived in one place since I left my parent's), but last summer was the first year we actually did serious gardening. I guess we're finally "here".

The DH has built me a frame to use for compost -- I need to paint it then we can put on the chicken wire to keep the labrador from digging in it for those tasty morsels -- you know, egg shells and coffee grounds and apple peel or potato peel -- the joys of gardening with a big black dog

Seed catalogs are our reminder that Spring is coming!