The weather has been unusually mild this spring, and for once I’m ahead of schedule. I’ve already cleaned up my flowerbeds, pulled weeds, prepped my tomato bed and divided over a dozen daylilies. Last weekend I even planted some peas and kale in barrels. I’m feeling pretty frisky.
My seedlings are growing like crazy under the grow lights in the basement, and I may be able to introduce them to the elements (harden them off) a full 2 or 3 weeks early this year. On Monday I sowed the last flower seeds—zinnias and marigolds. I normally finish during the last week of April, but I decided to move up the sowing dates because the weather has been so agreeable.
While all of this is very exciting, it’s definitely going to speed the arrival of the insect brigade. It rained over 3 inches last week, so I’m sure a massive cloud of mosquitoes isn’t far behind. And I’ll bet the rabbits are taking advantage of the nice weather to multiply like, well, rabbits and set their sights on the giant salad bar in my backyard.
It’s much too early in the season to have the gardener’s blues. For now I’ll enjoy the lovely weather and bask in my accomplishments. There’ll be plenty of time to fret about earwigs and rabbits and hail.