Spring Fever 2015

Caught this robin in the act of stealing my dead grass for his nest last year.  The dirty bird!

I've got it pretty bad, I guess.  Spring Fever.  I know it's bad because after work today, as I sat in my car preparing to go home, I saw a flock of small birds feeding on the ground near my car.  I tried my damnedest to make those juncos into robins.  But, in the end, I realized my error and rather sheepishly went on my way taking solace in the knowledge that I had not jumped up and down shouting, "Look at the robins!" as I was tempted to do.

When I got home, I was greeted as per usual by two overly excited dogs, my dear husband, and the latest in seed catalog offerings from Burpee and Gurney's.

There is little this time of year, save spotting that first robin, that can match the joy inspired by the brightly colored covers of my beloved seed catalogs.  I fear the day when they all finally go completely electronic and I won't be able to leaf through the pages at my leisure circling all the things I must get for my garden this year or next.  It's an annual rite that I relish greatly...almost as much as the gardening itself.

This year is no exception.  After my husband retired to bed complaining of a vague sense of illness, I sat and perused my catalogs by lamplight.  So many seeds; so little space.

But the thing that caught my eye was not a seed, but a shrub.  A blueberry shrub.  You might remember that a couple years ago I purchased two Top Hat blueberry shrubs from one catalog or another.  They do, in fact, survive the winters here in central Nebraska; but, only just.  I have yet to see a single blossom much less a fruit on either of the bushes I planted.  Seems Top Hat just isn't really hardy enough for my neck of the woods.  You would think that a shrub developed in Michigan would do well here.  Not so much.  It doesn't die, but it does winter kill back so badly that it never really recovers over the summer.

Enter Dwarf Northsky Blueberry.  I am so excited.  This shrub stays small, although not as small as the Top Hat variety and the hardiness zones are 3-7 instead of the 5-7 of Top Hat.  I can hardly wait to plunk down my cash and get the order put in.  According to the literature available, the Northsky does well in containers and I found several images of purported Northsky bushes growing comfortably in half barrel containers.  I will probably not grow them in containers though.  No, I have a spot in mind if I can convince my ailing husband of the perfection of that particular location for blueberry culture.

Not my picture...found this one on google.  Nice shot though.

I do love blueberries.  The first batch of jam I ever made and canned was blueberry.  Now that I think of it, that was a very long time ago.  At least twenty years.  I'd say I'm due for a second batch.

Weekends

If you need me, I'll be in the garden.

Ah! The Weekend.  I see it in my head that way with capitol letters.

It's pretty glorious: Two whole days of not driving for 3 hours a day and not spending 8.5 hours struggling and raging against the machine. My garden beckons and my dogs pounce and bounce with delight when, on Saturday morning, I emerge from my bedroom and dig out a couple scoops of dog chow and start the coffee pot with my current favorite weekend brew.

Of course, there are the usual chores and all those things I have to do to keep things moving as smoothly as possible.  It is really nice to have a couple days that I am not expected anywhere in particular nor do I have to complete anything under a deadline.  The time is more or less all mine and that in itself is relaxing.


But for me, the real quality time happens in the evenings on the weekends.  The pretty much self-imposed demands of the day have been met...or ignored and I'm free to enjoy some time just enjoying my life.

The picture above is the garden we started building this spring as it looks in the early evening hours this time of year.  This garden space along with the covered patio you can't really see in the picture takes up about one third of the space in what serves as our back yard. The neighbor's house and tree gives us some much-welcomed shade along about five or six o'clock We were a little worried that there wouldn't be enough sun to grow tomatoes.

As if.  Apparently there was no cause for alarm as we have tons of little green tomatoes coming on.  I know I keep mentioning the little green tomatoes but I can't help it.  Last fall was a long time ago.

The shed in the back was there when we bought the house. The little herb garden that you can almost see in the upper left area was put in last year as an experiment.  But everything else is new this year. I am ecstatic about these developments and have so many more things planned for the next few years. This year, we're hoping to get a couple more beds put in and some more fence work done.

Oops! Time for my Saturday afternoon lounge around the garden.  I'd better get my iced tea and head out!  I'm taking my tomato basket just in case.

Have a good one!