Sprinter

My friend Maria nicknamed the season we are in here on Long Island as Sprinter. Sprinter is Winter with spring like temperatures. Avid Gardeners like myself love it. It is the greatest.

Even as I type these words my fingers are thawing out. (Exercise is good to warm them up) This morning for a few minutes, like the past few mornings, I have ventured outside and begun some spring cleanup. It is warm enough here for us to begin to get blooms on the early plants. It is cold enough here for ones fingers to freeze nearly as you dig with your hands in the soil, new compost and do some basic weeding, cleaning up the old brown and pulling out the new green.

I love Sprinter! I uncovered a number of plants with buds that were buried under last year's waste. Of course this heads right for the compost heap on the side of the house. The richness that comes from there each year is beyond words.

Well my fingers are nearly thawed. As I work here at my desk, before I head out, I want to run out one more time and finish one little bed. Sprinter- you have to love it!

Snowdrops in the Snow

Here they are! The first buds of the 2012 Bloom

Season! These are snowdrops. They are ready to

open. They kick off the bloom season here on Long Island. Before the crocus bloom these little gems open, many times right through the snow.

I went out and brought in some fresh leaf mulch and put in the pot where my Kiffar Lilies from Changchun, CHINA are growing. We are hoping for blooms on this beautiful plant from Lucy's city, given to us from her family. It is the official flower of Changchun, the garden like city. Inside and outside there is new birth taking place.

More Spring Weather

It continues to feel like spring this morning on Long Island. This has to be one of the most mild winters we have ever had. More things are popping out of the ground. I have kept a planter of pansies from last spring and they are growing again out on the front porch.

The fish in our pond have all made an appearance. This is the earliest they have ever come up. We stop feeding them around Thanksgiving and then resume around Easter. While I haven't fed them yet they have been up looking around.

The ground is warming up. We are getting a great foretaste of what is to come in a few months.