We stopped by the p-patch on the way home from school this afternoon and discovered that the garlic planted last fall is doing swimmingly. I used some maple leaves in the fall as a mulch, and the garlic now is growing through the leaves. Not just pushing the leaves aside and growing up between them, although there’s plenty of that going on. No, this is garlic greens literally poking holes through the maple leaves and then pushing through and up, so the maple leaf is actually suspended several inches off the ground. I’m sorry I didn’t have a camera with …

The sun was out today. I spent the bulk of the day cleaning up the gardens, removing the winter die-back and so forth. And I found some flowers! Gonna get some dirt this week… the garden is waking up! Save

Caitlyn and I walked from school to the Westlake Link station yesterday afternoon. We found cherry trees starting to bloom (one totally covered in buds so that it looked pink from a block away) and daffodils pushing their greens up. Caitlyn nearly burst with joy when we found a camillia in bloom; she’s been waiting to pick up faded camillia flowers for a full year now. And while I don’t mind not being frozen whenever I step outside, I worry that this past record-breaking warm January will have unpleasant side effects later: a cold snap just as the fruit trees …

Caitlyn came upstairs this morning and announced to her sleep-fogged parents that she had dressed herself in shorts and a short-sleeve shirt because: “It’s spring! Now we can eat popsicles!” I’ve been explaining for days that just because it’s the first day of spring doesn’t mean that it’s suddenly going to be warm and flowery. I think school might be complicating matters. Caitlyn explained the other day that on Friday, “while we’re sleeping, the Seasons Clock is going to go” – sharp hand motion going from left to right, made with a not-quite-thunking sound – “into spring. Then there will …

Caitlyn and I had our lunch outside in the garden today, all informal and picnicky, perched on the stepping stones eating our sandwiches while Wasabi took in the sun. She wanted to know if it was popsicle time yet. We’ve planted the peas. Caitlyn has her own “garden”, a large planter where she’s put in peas and hopes for corn. She helped plant the first of the lettuce seeds, carefully sprinkling then covering and watering. I have to keep her from over-watering the beds or from digging where we’ve planted. Til the seeds come up, it’s just so hard to …

March. 59 wonderful degrees. Birds (ok, crows). Actual shadows. And little tiny new leaves on some of the trees in the neighborhood’s central park. Little tiny new leaves on the shrubs that have been sticks for months (“Caitlyn, don’t step on the plants, they’re sleeping.” “Sleepy plants.” And then she drops her ball on them.). There’s even a crocus in bloom in the neighbor’s yard… After a long, dark, freezing winter, let’s hear it for Spring!