(Mmmm sun)---
Sunshine in Detroit never lasts long this time of year; if we're lucky, we'll get an hour of sun in the morning before light succumbs to clouds for the rest of the day... and the next day, and the day after that, seemingly ad infinitum. But I can tell by the angle of the light this morning- spring is coming. Even though it's 8F outside right now. With a -15F windchill. Gah. I hear tell we're getting a heatwave this weekend: 43F. T-shirt time! It's been months since I felt the sun on my arms. The cold this time of year is so relative. Another reason I know spring is on the way: I start my sweet pea seedlings this weekend. The variety I'm growing is Cuthbertson Floribunda. Is there a lovelier flower than sweet peas? Ok, maybe yes; maybe a big, fat heirloom variety of peony. But then, I like flowers with lots and lots of scent. I don't understand the point, say, of all those gaudy hybrid roses with absolutely no scent left in them. Gauche.
I know I'm getting older because I love flowers a little more every year.
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Ha! I agree with you on the scented flowers - I always thought I was missing something since I didn't care for the unscented hybrid tea roses. Glad it's not just me!
I'm thinking about how I can get away with starting some of my seedlings at my desk here at the office...shhh...don't tell! {evil grin}
P.S. - you can start sweet peas already? really? {hmm, I should have known that...maybe I'm just too much of a dour new englander...gotta fix that!}
Margo, I'm so glad you're back! I really missed that funny, squinty cat icon, too.
A fluorescent swing arm task lamp would work great for your subversive workplace seedlings... Maybe you could even expense it to further milk the subversion.
Sweet peas 'round these parts can go out in late March. I've never started them inside, but I'd love to get a jump on the season this year. Sometimes, come high summer, it's too hot in Detroit for sweet peas. Last year I didn't grow them, and it would have been a perfect year- in that long miserable spring which all my hot crops hated.
I WANT to want flowers....but I only plant them every year so that I appear normal to the neighbours, ha ha. However, I would still much rather have my veggies. Five years ago, I dug up all the daffodils and roses by my front door and replaced them with tomatoes and carrots. (I can not begin to tell you how unimpressed my husband was by THAT.) This year, in addition to my veg garden in the back, I am contemplating putting heirloom scarlett runner beans by the front door, hopefully they will produce enough flowers to keep my husband (and the neighbours) happy, and camouflage their true purpose!
Forget the Groundhog, if Ilex is starting Sweet Peas, Spring really is coming. We had some lovely Summer weather a few days back, but now it's rain and chill, which is good for out front strip of red poppies.....
We just moved from a house with a yard into a townhouse style apartment with nothing more than a small patio. I really want to start a container garden this spring and whatever else I can grow inside, including maybe a small herb garden. I have done tomato plants before, but found out recently that I am allergic to them, so that's out.. besides that I don't have any experience, and have no idea where to begin! I am hoping your blog will help to inspire me. Any and all suggestions and help are welcome! :)
Thanks Ilex!! It's good to be back, even though I have full-on spring fever these days...
Erin - try potatoes! I take any potatoes that I didn't cook in time & stuff them in a big pot of dirt. Then I put them outside...for a while. Works pretty well & is fairly fool-proof. I hope that helps get you started. :)
Well Erin, though I can't imagine a garden without tomatoes, I'm sure there are plenty of things you can grow. Lettuces? Spinach? Carrots? Snow Peas? cabbages? Later on, green beans, cucumbers, squash, summer tolerant lettuces, corn? There's lots of things, and most aren't that hard to grow. What would you LIKE to grow? I have some thyme, dill and marjoram I'm going to be starting from seed, probably tomorrow.
You might look into flowers that are edible as well!
(and yes, you can even do corn in a container garden!)
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