My first sign of spring is always a patch of tiny crocus out behind the house.  These are the smallest ones I’ve ever seen, and always the first thing up thru the ground.  They are only 1″ tall.  And there are a lot of them, planted by a former owner of the house.

I think they are a little earlier than most years, and there’s only a few of them up, but it’s a really good sign.  Now granted I have seen them snowed on quite a few years, but we can hope they know what they’re doing this year, lol, cos I am SO ready for spring.

Also, yesterday, there was another sign.  MaChatte was on her window ledge looking out back and being excited about something…….something that I didn’t see at first.   I was looking for squirrels…….hmm, no squirrels.  Then I saw–stripes!  There was our backyard resident chip monk up out of his hole looking around!  They go into some light hibernation over the winter and wake  up to eat, etc, occasionally, from their underground stored pantry.  But they don’t come up out of the ground when it’s really cold.  Then when things are starting to change, they will come up occasionally  to just check around,   go back down and check again later, cos they are ready for spring too. So, seeing a chip monk is such a good thing.

I have gardening fever!  I started a few cabbage seeds and in a couple of weeks  I’ll start a few tomatoes.  These can sit on a sunny windowsill during the day and go under a plant light for a while in the evening, and then will get set outside on warm days till they’re ready to be planted into the ground, maybe later April for the cabbage, cos it can take some cool nights.  Tomatoes not till early May tho, cos they’ll nip and die from cold. Everything else can be planted then in May right into the ground, including more cabbage  for a later harvest.  Some things don’t transplant well and some don’t need an early start in the house.

It’s been a long strange cold winter here, and I’m ready to get out and dig and plant and grow!