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Apr 10, 2011

Spring?

As I sit here with all the windows open and fans running, the temperature in my living room is 81 degrees, at 10:00 PM,on April 10.  I can't remember the last time the temps were this high the day before my birthday.  Have we skipped over spring and gone straight into summer?  If I were still in south east WA I would not be too surprised; spring was often only a couple weeks long there.  Daffodils lasted only a couple days in the hot winds.  Michigan spring is supposed to be cold and rainy.  What is this heat doing to my garden?  Things are popping up all over.  My crocuses and iris reticulata are in bloom, and the daffodils are springing up quickly.  My large bleeding hearts are putting up pretty pink shoots.  They need to be moved to make room for the smaller plants around them.  Among my natives, the round leaf hepatica is suddenly visible, and some of my young plants are sprouting, but most things are still resting.  I'm watching my flats of native seeds for signs of life.  Somewhere I have a key that tells me what was planted in what row of small pots - hmmm, where did I put that list?
I have several projects ahead of my this spring.  My virgin's bower - Clematis virginiana, completely outgrew the trellises I put up last year.  My goal is to build a trellis that covers half of the west end of my house so it can cover the wall.  I also need trellises for my gourds and pumpkins (yes pumpkins on a trellis). They will go on the south side and the growing plants will shade the house.  The beds I started last fall with newspaper and leaves only need some kind of edge and they are ready for planting.  I would like to expand the bed at the back of the house using retaining blocks.  My yard on the south slopes up from the front to the back, with an abrupt slope at the last 2-3 feet.  I want to use the blocks to make a small retaining wall.  Steps would allow Phoebe and I to pass through to the street behind us on our walks.  So much to do.  This promises to be a busy season.

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