Ah, spring, and an actual follow-up

a perfect way to start the morning....also, I have suspicions there's a toad sleeping right under my coffee cup.

I am trying to remember to look back at my pictures and notes from 2011, because comparing this spring to last is a bit disappointing. You know it's going slow when the NWS has an exciting announcement that we finally had a day with temperatures above average.  But all in all it feels more...normal, and if we don't jump straight into summer I think we'll actually enjoy a real spring.


The hoop house is a huge help with impatience (I'm sure I've said this before).  Even though I'm not as far along as I thought I'd be by now, I can at least plant peas, when outside many of my beds are still frozen.  I can pretty much see the chives growing at this stage--and a green onion that I (improperly) harvested last week grew a new 2-inch shoot in a matter of days.  Spring is so miraculous.

Salads are back on the menu, and we've been harvesting spinach regularly, if not in mass quantities.

Speaking of spinach, I'm really happy with how my experimental grow-boxes are working out.  I started leaving them in the hoop full time a couple of weeks ago (with row cover on a couple of ridiculously chilly nights earlier this week).  The baby spinach is a perfect bridge between my overwintered plants and the new seedlings.  The lettuce is not quite as vigorous, but is so pretty.  I'm thinking of gifting it (or starting another) for my neighbor/friend.
They definitely have served my goals of maximizing growing space and germinating when the hoop conditions were not ideal.  And I could totally see these as hot sellers at an early farmer's market, or a great kids project for a mother's day gift.