Courtesy of perennial commentor Raven, the trees in Georgia welcome spring, and in the photos below his spouse shows off her design chops celebrating Easter. Which is, of course, a fertility festival as well as the holiest of Christian holidays. (So’s Passover, to some degree, but this year Passover is still three weeks away.)
Yesterday I bought the first transplants of the year, a half-dozen pansy sixpaks and an almost-open hyacinth for the living room. (Hyacinths are very strongly scented, one is enough for a whole room, and once it’s finished blooming I’ll dig the bulb in next to the front stoop, near the survivors from a half-dozen previous years.) So — unless the rain shows up earlier than expected — I’ll celebrate this afternoon by filling some planters with color, as an encouragement to start the tedious process of cleaning up the winter detritus.
What’s going on in your gardens (planning) this week?
OzarkHillbilly
Very nice.
BGinCHI
Springtime is Athens is so damn lovely.
The midwest just doesn’t compare (autumn is our best season).
Springtime in Norway is, so far, coming slowly. But here in Bergen it’s very mild with some solid crocus/daffodil style flowers well out and bloomed.
The worst part of March here, by a stretch, is that I can’t watch any NCAA games. But since the Big Ten laid a large egg, maybe it’s better I can’t.
raven
@BGinCHI: This marks 31 springs here and I don’t know if I’ll not ever be blown away by spring. It reminds me that the first time I drive into town I came in on the Lexington Highway and thought, damn what an ugly place!
eta Did you know Ross Shapiro of the Glands?
BGinCHI
@raven: A comment here just doesn’t do it justice. It’s really amazingly alive and fecund. Stuff grows everywhere in a way I had never experienced.
That Lexington Hwy drive was never very nice….and now I imagine getting into Athens is not even a challenge like it used to be.
raven
@BGinCHI: It’s awful on the east side coming in, the interchange of Lexington Hwy and the Bypass is a nightmare. You would not recognize it coming in that way with the new construction.
scav
What I remember of spring in Sweden, the one time I was there for it, was how breathtakingly fast it was. Tulips everywhere, massive lupin and then poppies the. size of dinner plates when I left. I also remember a general fondness for pansies, and they fittingly let their dandylions run riot.
Zinsky
Daffodils already poking their green shoots out of the ground here in Minnesota (which is incredibly early, by the way). But full-fledged gardening is still at least six weeks away.
BGinCHI
@scav: There are a lot of sensitive men here in Norway, but no pansi—
Oh, wait. Forget it.
scav
@BGinCHI: How sad. But, what about dandies? Do they make it over the boarder? (Not the common fop, or garden macaroni, nothing but dandies will do).
JPL
Raven, The pictures are wonderful. I do like your wife’s Easter display. Several years ago, my son spent some time in Amsterdam and visited the Keukenhof Tulip Festival. The pictures he took were absolutely amazing.
Princess
I planted peas, arugula, and tat tsoi this week. We shall see. Hey, do any of you have a place you like to buy seeds from? I got these from Territorial, which I haven’t used before. We’ll see how they turn out.
sparrow
@Princess: seed saver’s exchange is fantastic. interesting varieties.
bemused
@scav:
Their plants are celebrating, having a party! It’s no wonder they are blooming like mad when by May I think the Scandinavian countries have jumped to average of 9 hours of sunlight a day. I envy their summers with so much sun but not the mid-winter black out. It’s bad enough in northern MN when it’s dark in Dec by 4pm or so.
Pogonip
Happy Easter!
Ongoing Crapification of Everything Dept: my father is doing time in a 5-star rehab/nursing home, courtesy of DOD. And in my opinion they damn well owe him, he certainly wouldn’t have bothered the Koreans on his own, especially not at risk of his life. Anyway, this 5-star rehab is hopelessly undermanned. The employees are really struggling to keep up. What are the ones like where they’ve given up? And what if your relative can’t speak? Or can’t remember from moment to moment whether or not he got his medicine?
Support the troops!
OzarkHillbilly
@Princess: Baker Creek for “rare heirloom seeds” but be careful, their website is orgasmic garden porn.
Baud
Happy Easter, everybody.
As Christ arose from the dead, so shall Baud! (in the polls).
Raven
@JPL: Ohhh, nice!
Baud
@Raven:
Agree. Nice pictures.
bemused
We have a grapevine at the back end of our veggie garden and plan to cut it back and dig out the root ball this spring. The vine has grown too big and unwieldy even with heavy handed pruning and we give the grapes away anyway. We’ll leave the cattle fence, hog fence? and I’ve been thinking what veggies to plant next to it. I thought of sugar snap peas that need something to climb and then I just thought this morning the fence would be ideal for cherry tomato plants.
Baud
I’m not ready for the weeds.
bystander
A friend worked in a library, where one of her kookier student-employees was known for walking around muttering to himself. On Good Friday, she heard him repeating, “He is risen. I am Rosen.”
Northeastern Pennsylvania, and the daffs are up, some blooming, and the hyacinth are blooming. March is very early for all this activity here.
Planted a lot of daff bulbs (they’re deerproof) last fall, even used a lot of paprika when we planted. Evidently we have Hungarian rabbits, because somebody ate a lot of them with relish.
satby
Lovely pictures raven. Compliments to your bride!
@Pogonip: yeah, the VAs are horribly understaffed, courtesy of those folks who use soldiers as background scenery and then forget about them until it’s time to blame their death of some Democrats. I hope in spite of that your dad gets the care he needs and is comfortable. The people working at the VA do try in spite of the understaffing, which to be fair happens at all hospitals. Staff is a cost that always needs to be trimmed.
Gin & Tonic
While for some of us, Easter is still five weeks away. The gardening news will certainly be different then.
OzarkHillbilly
Things have been getting done in my garden. Onions showed up last week so I had to till up where I was going to plant them and ended up tilling about 2/5 of the garden. The onions are in, so is my spring lettuce and spinach, still have to put in carrots, radishes, etc. I’m probably going to go ahead and plant my Brussels Sprouts and cabbages this week too, they’re big enuf and I don’t have to worry about frost with them. Not sure I have to worry about frost at all this year.
My potato…pots/cages are placed and waiting to be filled in anticipation of their arrival. (the ankle is slowing me down) I cut plastic barrels in half, drilled a couple 1 1/2″ holes in the bottoms, cut 1’x1′ pieces of 1/2″ hardware cloth to cover the holes, I need to cover the bottoms with 1-2″ of river gravel, lay landscape fabric over that and then top it off with a foot or so of soil, which will get topped with succeeding layers of compost as the plants grow. I feel pretty secure that will gopher proof the potatoes. We’ll see. The little bstrds have been hell on my sweet potatoes the last couple years.
I’ve been setting landscape timbers and spreading mulch around the places where flowers grow in my yard, which the chickens quickly found and used as their own personal dust baths. It having become obvious that allowing them free run of the place was no longer an option (what they did to my herb garden bed is criminal), I had to raise the fence on their run to 8 feet and reconfigure the gate. They aren’t particularly happy with their new constraints but are accepting of them.
Currants
@Princess: yes! Botanical Interests, Seed Savers Exchange, Johnny’s Seeds, FedCo Seeds (a coop), and sometimes Victory Seeds. You can get interesting heirloom varieties at the first two especially (I.e. most gorgeous variegated blue and white morning glories I’ve ever seen, also the first place I found Henderson Limas). Johnny’s and FedCo are good here for being solid for my zone (6a, though their labeling for other areas is also pretty clear). I think most of those growers also have at least some organically produced seeds. (Important to me, since seed production is often heavily reliant on pesticides and chemical fertilizers).
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud:
Neither am I but Republicans grow everywhere around here.
Immanentize
Raven,
One of the things I miss most about moving north from Texas are the spring mountain laurel and the red buds. Thanks for the red bud and dogwood(?) photo reminders.
Ultraviolet Thunder
It’s not officially spring here in Detroit until my prickly pear cactus perks up. It shrivels and flattens to the ground under the snow, but once the water/ light/temp are right it will plump up and start budding.
I need to saturate it today. Maybe a bucket of Miracle Grow water in the face will rouse it.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: Jealous! A month away from anything like that. I just folded the manure compost into my garden plot yesterday. I really need to wait a couple of weeks so I don’t burn the plants.
bemused
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
Isn’t miracle gro full of chemicals and in partnership with or supports monsanto? I banned miracle gro from my gardens years ago, not just veggies but flowers and even my house plants.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@bemused:
Good question. I use it because it works when applied in moderation. I put it on outdoor plants once in the spring and again in late summer. I’ll look into the Monsanto connection.
debbie
@BGinCHI:
I disagree, and I’m in Ohio. A single crocus is enough to blow me away. When my favorite magnolia bursts forth, I’m awestruck. And when all the azaleas are in their full glory, I practically lose my mind.
Other places may be more bountiful, but beauty is beauty.
Elmo
@scav: OT, but you’ve been to Sweden? I have an opportunity to travel there on business in June, and I was thinking I might try a side trip on the way home but can’t decide where. I’ve never been to Europe at all.
But I’m weird in my travel tastes. I don’t care much about cultural stuff – I like scenery instead.
I’m also hopelessly monolingual – please tell me enough people speak English that I won’t be crippled!
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: Amen. Nothing beats the Ozarks in April.
OzarkHillbilly
@Elmo: I haven’t been there but people tell me Iceland will knock your socks off.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: And you can do a layover of a few days in Iceland as part of a ticket to Europe on Icelandair.
01jack
@bemused:
Well, of course it is. That’s what all stuff is made of. It isn’t pixie dust.
satby
So now it’s after 9 am here, the Easter baskets are done, the Easter eggs are hidden, and the teens snooze on.
Holidays are more fun with little kids, I’m just saying….
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: That is exactly how my friends found themselves wandering about there. (one was stationed in Iceland during his stint in the navy)
bemused
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
I’ve noticed a few garden centers in my area have been stocking a variety of organic soil in large quantities the last several years so they must be getting customer requests. There are sites with lists of chemicals to avoid when buying soil, fertilizer or pesticides that I have to jot down so I know what not to buy. Then there is the bee and neonicotinoid issue. I just read about Minneapolis, iirc, striving to go more chemical free in their parks. One organic garden online store states why they don’t use miracle gro with photos of two tomato plants from same seed variety, one grown in their recommended soil which looked great and the other in miracle gro which didn’t. Lots to think about.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: but much more peaceful without.
MazeDancer
Raven, looked at Springtime you shared and spontaneously said out loud “Oh, beautiful!”
A wonderful way to start any day. Thanks.
bemused
@OzarkHillbilly:
We loved our 3 days in Iceland before the rest of the trip in Sweden and Finland years ago and would like to go back some day.
bemused
@01jack:
Chemicals too generic a name, should have said toxic chemicals.
01jack
@bemused: Sorry. Mine reads as rather rude now that I look. BTW, Miracle-Gro is merged with Scotts (the lawn products company). Scotts has its own GMO products, if you fret about such things, and also markets the consumer-branded Roundup glyphosate – that’s probably why people have drawn a Monsanto connection.
Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)
I have been consigned to purgatory in Potomac MD for most of the last 6 weeks and a large part of the next 8. Perhaps the only compensation is that purgatory has some well kept grounds that are currently going nuts with spring blooms. I have some great pictures & if I can set them up in imgur I will post a link
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: Well, one of the dead is walking now.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@bemused:
I use the Miracle Gro blue crystal fertilizer diluted in water for boosting established plants in the spring. For planting we use locally sourced garden soil mixed with free compost. Our city collects our lawn refuse, leaves, chipped branches, etc and composts it over the winter. In the spring they truck a heap of it to the Public Works compound and you show up with your own shovel and containers. Been doing this for years and it works great. I planted a whole evergreen garden with 10 yards of teh stuff and it really took off.
PurpleGirl
@BGinCHI: Back in 1976 my PenPal told me that Easter weekend in Norway is spent by many, many people skiing. The Church is state supported but most people don’t go to church. And Easter is usually spent hiking and/or skiing.
rikyrah
Good Morning ?, Everyone ?
Happy Easter ?
Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)
@Schlemazel (parmesan rancor):
HERE are the pictures of Potomac Spring. nothing fantastic, just snaps from my phone while headed to class or predawn walks.
PS, the young lady’s last name is Potomac – seemed appropriate since she broke out this spring also
Benw
I hope this Easter finds everyone healthy and happy. It’s 34 F here in lovely VT, but the eggs are found, coffee drunk, and doggies walked, so I can declared this morning a success!
jeffreyw
Well, the rib roast is in a 200 degree oven where it will spend the next several hours struggling to reach a decent internal temperature. Going with what they are calling a reverse sear. Food Lab explains the method here.
We are going with a simple menu: the roast, baked potatoes, sprouts, and a salad.
bystander
@efgoldman: Where would we be without indefinite antecedents?
Watching the near riot in Brussels on MSNBC. So sad to watch a bunch of rightwingers pipe the tune. The one thing that is consistent is that awful people do exactly what the terrorists want, whether it’s to initiate infra fighting or to run around acting skeered, the way the rwns wanted the POTUS to act.
ETA, anybody else thinking back on the old Monty Python skit the premise of which was a game show contest to make the most insulting remarks based on race and nationality? The winner of the write-in contest to name the Belgians was the “Filthy Flems”.
Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)
@PurpleGirl:
Don’t know if it is still true but my German cousins told me that the government took money out of their paycheck for religion. The only choice a person had was which religion the money went to, you could not opt out. This was back in the ’70s, I just can’t imagine people putting up with it, particularly here in the US.
stinger
Great photos! After a warm winter, the crocus here are not only up but nearly done, daffs and tulips are showing leaves but not yet blossoms, and my early lilacs are heavily budded. This is all about 3 weeks early. Thanks, Obama!
For the past few years, I’ve neglected vegetable gardening so I could spend the spring establishing a home orchard. I would grab a few tomato and pepper plants from a local nursery, but was always dissatisfied with the selection. This year, although the orchard isn’t complete, I’ve decided to get back into vegetables a little, so I started seeds a week ago. The lettuce (which I usually just plant straight into the ground) came up 2-3 days later–most gratifying–the tomatoes a day or two after that, and the peppers are sprouting now. So excited that I will get my favorite heirloom tomatoes this year! I’ll put the Tom Thumb and Bronze Mignonette lettuce into planters right by the kitchen door next weekend, and will move the tomatoes, peppers, and leaf lettuces into small individual pots for 2-3 weeks before transplanting into the garden. Hopefully that will give me time to get the garden ready, after years of neglect. By then the soil might be warm enough to plant other veg seeds directly into the ground.
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel (parmesan rancor):
I can, as long as only acceptable Christian churches are allowed to participate.
Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)
@jeffreyw:
We have had great success with that method, the only down side is its tough to know when you will eat
PurpleGirl
@Schlemazel (parmesan rancor): A number of years ago there was a move to disestablish the Church in Norway. (The Church follows the Lutheran reformation but isn’t called Lutheran.) But many people were against it because they feared that if the governance of the Church became entirely run by those who attended then maybe some of the liberal policies would be changed to more conservative ides. I really should check what the status is.
Tom
No garden here (apartment plus cats) but I’ve got a boneless leg of lamb that’s been marinating in crushed garlic and rosemary all night.
After breakfast, I’m going to brown it in the broiler, then pop it in the slow cooker with some veggies.
My wife loves lamb but it’s more of a special treat. It’s only the second time I’ve cooked it so we’ll see how it goes.
jnfr
Our town in Colorado got hit with two feet of snow last week and it’s still on the ground (22 degrees this a.m.). Gardening days are still a ways off.
Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)
@PurpleGirl:
Not sure how that works, is the church run by the government? I am eternally grateful to not have to deal with that sort of thing here.
Bartholomew
Heyo, self-proclaimed leftists, I realize now you are trying to be all free-republick and enforce unity of thought on the ‘Left’ but who cares. We already have that, thanks.
I do wish a happy Easter to the non-atheist minority here, risking insult to the godless Leftist contingent that hides behind the liberal label. Kumbaya!
Bernie Sanders’ Big Win in Western States Gives Him Clout
Morfydd
@Schlemazel (parmesan rancor): It still happens here, mostly for the Catholic Church and the Evangelical Lutherans, but I think some mosques and synagogues are opting into the system. If you’ve been baptized the only way to opt out is to renounce your membership.
Or, like me, be a Presbyterian, which doesn’t exist here. :D
Elizabelle
Happy Bunny Day. May the Chocolate be with you. (Peeps, if you prefer.)
Immanentize
@Elmo: what Scav said above — Iceland! Icelandic Air has a deal where you can layover in Iceland as long as you like at no extra round trip fare price. My family was in Sweden one summer and afterwards we stayed for four days in Iceland. We rented an apartment sorta like air bnb. So beautiful!! And great food if you like salmon or lamb. And everyone speaks excellent English.
Chyron HR
@Bartholomew:
Does that mean you guys are going to stop coming here every day to rant about how much you hate ni**ers for stealing Sanders’ nomination?
No, somehow I didn’t think it would.
Linnaeus
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
Spring begins when you see the robins.
Ultraviolet Thunder
The first chipmunk of Spring has been sighted from the kitchen window.
There was frost on the roof this morning but when the little ground squirrels pop up it’s a good sign.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Linnaeus:
We actually have robins year-round in Detroit. The finches, jays and cardinals stick around as well. The goldfinches just started showing their summer colors. And the chipmunks are awake (see above).
rikyrah
@jeffreyw:
My sister took me out to dinner at a steakhouse last night. Had prime rib. It was delicious ?. May you enjoy yours.
satby
So the eggs are found, the candy from the Easter baskets sampled, and the breakfast finished. Now for my last relaxing cup of coffee. I do love lazy Sundays, though this one will only be lazy for another 15 minutes.
Happy Easter y’all.
MomSense
Lovely photos, Raven. Happy Easter to those who celebrate.
Linnaeus
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
Really? I don’t remember seeing robins there in the winter. Hm.
PurpleGirl
@Schlemazel (parmesan rancor): I’m not completely sure myself how it works.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Linnaeus:
Our dog hates robins for some reason. Maybe because they walk on the ground. But he ignores mourning doves. When we walk him year-round there’s always something to bark at.
We live in a near suburb of Detroit. There’s almost always open ground. Since they’re bug eating ground feeders I wonder what they eat in the frozen months. I’ve seen them picking up dropped suet on the ground under the feeder we keep out for the woodpeckers.
Mrs. Thunder tells me they didn’t used to be year-round here and it’s recent.
Ked
…is that an egg shaped candle? I can’t decide whether to be amused or horrified.
jeffreyw
@rikyrah: I’d like to think it is an actual prime rib, I suspect it is USDA choice. It came from Kroger’s, we bought one there for Xmas and it was very good. They had these priced @ $7.99/lb – I bought a spare!
StellaB
I spent yesterday digging in mustard that is supposed to knock back the nematodes that destroyed my tomatoes last year. Today I have hives. Next winter I may just give up on vegetable gardening. I will say that the mustard flourished, but there’s only just so much mustard that you can eat. My baby tomatoes are looking handsome though and will be ready to go to there “forever homes” in a couple of weeks.
Linnaeus
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
Could be a recent thing. Climate change!
Princess
Thanks for the seed recs, guys!
Pogonip
@satby: Oh, this isn’t VA, this is a private one, most likely run by vulture capitalists seeking to economize on staff. They are probably charging Tricare several hundred dollars a day for the privilege of hosting my father.
Suzanne
I am finally coming to the realization that my house is too damn small. I really want to leave AZ next year, but even if we stay, I need a bigger house.
Actually, I need to win the lottery and buy my mom a condo.
scav
@Elmo: If you’ve never been to Europe, don’t worry, any of the Scandinavian counties will have things for you to stare amazedly at and not a lot of language issues. Sweden may be less dramatic than Norway with the fjords and watterfassen, but it’s still grand and often has that characteristic look, of soil being strtched out over a lot of rock. Forests, lakes, those happy plants. Göteland had fossils and one of the troll forests at the north end. lots of birds. I was in Sigtuna during the off-season, bit the waterview is one of my calm places (village good, but you’re looking landscpae). Norway, Bill could do better, but entirely dramatic and not limited to the west coast. Iceland is still on my very much want to go list, so you’ll have to report back.
Waratah
I could not resist a six pak of bright lights Swiss chard last week, and need to know how much cold they can stand. We have had lovely days in the seventy’s but this morning we woke up to snow covering the ground and 29 degree temperature. This is the panhandle of Texas and I am anxious to plant them.
I hope someone is still reading and can help me
Anne Laurie
@Waratah: Never tried planting chard myself, but here in New England (zone 6) it’s touted as a “frost-tolerant ornamental” to use in planters after it gets too cold for the chrysanthemums.
And one of the “cheats” people use around here is to plant out the little sixpak fledglings into bigger planters while waiting for the ground to warm up. The soil in the planter won’t be frozen, and if there’s an overnight cold spell it’s easier to tent plastic or sheeting over a planter & remove it the next morning as the sun warms things up.
So if you have some pots waiting for summer annuals, maybe your chard can go into them temporarily? Of course some people object to having to plant everything twice, but for only six plants…
dimmsdale
Late to the thread but if anyone’s still reading, who’s got a recommendation for house plant fertilizer? (or in my case, apartment plant fertilizer)? I come from a long line of gardeners in the family but all I have is a north-facing apartment windowsill; I do my best to keep it crowded with various plants, including an elephant-ear begonia that’s been in the family since the 1950s. One can always repot with fresh soil, I suppose, but I’d like a recommendation for when you want to give plants an extra zotz. Cheers, everybody!