New growth

After a stressful day at work, Jess and I hit the garden last night, poking around to see what was happening as the snow retreated. After filling the bird feeder, Jess pointed out that the apple trees were starting to bud out.

My gardening guru Alan emailed earlier in the day with news that the tulips on the south side of his house and garage had poked through and we went looking for our own.

No luck but we did find some onions we'd planted last fall. You can see above the older, forst-damaged growth and the tiny but of new growth right at the base of the shaft. I may get out and jam some garlic in ground (forgot last fall).

The phlox (which blooms a lovely pale purple) also overwintered despite the lack of snow cover and is green. I don't think it is growing yet but nice to see it didn't completely desiccate.

I also pulled back the glass on the cold frame to smooth out the soil for planting this weekend. The smell was amazing--that kind of warm, earthy smell of things rotting and growing that we usually have to wait until June to get. I will be moving from a MacGyverized cold frame to a proper one this summer.

The spring light also highlights some interesting moss we have on the elm trees. When it rains and the bark gets wet, the green turns green. The rest of the time, it has this lovely rusty patina to it.