Spring didn't come early this year, the daffodils and hyacinths are still struggling with the cold weather. This comes somewhat as a relief, last year's spring arrived unseasonably early and was followed by a damaging summer of drought.
Last year around this time the grass was sprinkled with violets, the sky was blue and temperatures rose to the high sixties. The problem with early spring is that no matter what the temperature is mid-March, there will still be frost on April's fool, it's just an established weather pattern that never fails. Plants are wiser than the gardener and follow their internal clocks, they always know the precise moment to start their vegetative cycle that would allow them their best outcomes for the year.
I took a stroll around the garden, just to make sure I'm not missing out on some wonderful development but I wasn't: an uncertain sleet whipped the shivering foliage and the shoots of spring bulbs are still hidden under wet barren leaves.
Of course balmy weather and cloudless skies are the best features of spring but this is not why I love it. I love spring because it is the beginning of better things to come. Every morning is warmer, more verdant, and holding more promise than the one before. At some point early in April vegetation springs forth simultaneously, overwhelming us with abundance. Never during the year is the garden greener, healthier and more blessed than during the three spring months that deliver it to its mature stage at the beginning of June.
While August holds the reward of harvest, April holds the excitement of new beginnings, of the defining moments that move potential into reality.
Main Areas: Garden Writing; Sustainable Gardening; Homegrown Harvest
Published Books: “Terra Two”; “Generations”; "The Plant - A Steampunk Story"; "Letters to Lelia"; "Fair"; "Door Number Eight"
Career Focus: Author; Consummate Gardener;
Affiliation: All Year Garden; The Weekly Gardener; Francis Rosenfeld's Blog
I started blogging in 2010, to share the joy of growing all things green and the beauty of the garden through the seasons. Two garden blogs were born: allyeargarden.com and theweeklygardener.com, a periodical that followed it one year later. I wanted to assemble an informal compendium of the things I learned from my grandfather, wonderful books, educational websites, and my own experience, in the hope that other people might use it in their own gardening practice.