In January, while snow is on the ground and I'm covered up in my easy chair looking through the seed catalogs, somehow gardening seems so easy.
Now it's gardening time. The ground is cold and wet from all the spring rains. The seeds and plants are waiting to go into the ground. Things eventually will dry out so the garden can be tilled and weed preventer applied.
Some of my favorite things in the spring are finding wild onions, the first asparagus and, soon, making pies from fresh rhubarb.
The smell of the lilacs and peonies in the yard make the outdoors so inviting.
It is so much fun planning the layout of the garden - what should I plant next to the onions, beans, cucumbers, etc?
My husband will till our garden with the tractor and tiller. Then it's marking out the rows, planting seeds and plants.
It's so satisfying looking at the just-planted garden.
In less than two weeks, one can see the garden's rows. Now the real work begins: hoeing, weeding, watching for bugs on the plants and then the harvesting. And the eating.
This spring, the wild onions were pretty mild. The asparagus plot has been quite wet, but yield has been good. We've enjoyed fresh asparagus for supper - steamed with butter or vinegar or creamed. I even canned six pints of asparagus this year and gave some fresh asparagus away.
The rhubarb has been very sweet this year. It sure has made good pies.
Now I'm anxiously awaiting the new green onions and lettuce. I didn't get a very early start to gardening this year, so things are slow in coming.
This year, there are cherries on the tree. I do hope the birds don't beat us to them. It's hard to beat cherry pie from home-canned cherries.
Instead of talking about gardening, I better get out there and get to hoeing and weeding. The rains have kept the garden so wet that the weeds are starting to get ahead of me.
As I look around at all the flooding, I am thankful that my garden is not under water.
- Jean Woodruff is the news clerk for The Monroe Times. She can be reached at newsclerk@themonroetimes.com
Now it's gardening time. The ground is cold and wet from all the spring rains. The seeds and plants are waiting to go into the ground. Things eventually will dry out so the garden can be tilled and weed preventer applied.
Some of my favorite things in the spring are finding wild onions, the first asparagus and, soon, making pies from fresh rhubarb.
The smell of the lilacs and peonies in the yard make the outdoors so inviting.
It is so much fun planning the layout of the garden - what should I plant next to the onions, beans, cucumbers, etc?
My husband will till our garden with the tractor and tiller. Then it's marking out the rows, planting seeds and plants.
It's so satisfying looking at the just-planted garden.
In less than two weeks, one can see the garden's rows. Now the real work begins: hoeing, weeding, watching for bugs on the plants and then the harvesting. And the eating.
This spring, the wild onions were pretty mild. The asparagus plot has been quite wet, but yield has been good. We've enjoyed fresh asparagus for supper - steamed with butter or vinegar or creamed. I even canned six pints of asparagus this year and gave some fresh asparagus away.
The rhubarb has been very sweet this year. It sure has made good pies.
Now I'm anxiously awaiting the new green onions and lettuce. I didn't get a very early start to gardening this year, so things are slow in coming.
This year, there are cherries on the tree. I do hope the birds don't beat us to them. It's hard to beat cherry pie from home-canned cherries.
Instead of talking about gardening, I better get out there and get to hoeing and weeding. The rains have kept the garden so wet that the weeds are starting to get ahead of me.
As I look around at all the flooding, I am thankful that my garden is not under water.
- Jean Woodruff is the news clerk for The Monroe Times. She can be reached at newsclerk@themonroetimes.com
