Spring fever

I planted the last of the corn, squash and melons. There's been enough cool weather that I transplanted some of the yarrow seedlings and they're well established now. I think the rest will have to wait for fall, but if all the seedlings survive I should be able to do at least the park-strips and the front lawn. I checked and the water from the downspout is stretching all down the length of the perforated pipe, which is about 2/3 of the distance. I need to get another pipe to finish it, and I've been thinking of digging down and creating a small pond in that corner.

It's raining again today. I hear the constant drip of the water running out of the drainage pipes on the tanks. Yesterday there was a duck and a quail on the roof. At opposite ends and facing away like they were trying hard to ignore each other.

This morning there were birds in the garden, busily eating the lettuce I'm letting go to "weed." I decided if I'm going to have weeds they may as well be weeds that I can use. The lettuce and leftover potatoes from last year's harvest keep the other weeds down.

The baby apricot is about three inches tall and leafing out. I don't know what it is about a garden, really. I struggle when it struggles. I rejoice when it thrives. I'll watch for the seedlings and protect them (just enough so they can care for themselves) and then go plant something else.

It's raining

I'm listening to thunder. It seems to roll on forever, until it reaches the edge of my hearing.

This month it's been raining. It rained, then quit for two weeks, then rained again, quit for two weeks, and now it's raining. More rain than we usually get in a full year in the last month. Texas is washing away, California is drying up, and the desert blossoms.

I hear the rain start, and it's almost a pain to know that the tanks are full. I can't get any more water in them, so this rain will soak down into the aquifers and pile up on the mountains as snow. It will feed my plants for weeks to come, trapped in the soil where it's cool.

There's the thunder again. I want to go outside and dance in the rain, but I won't. This week I'll probably cover the beans with leaves. Weed barrier, mulch, and hopefully protection so the mushrooms will start to emerge. The lawn needs to be mowed again so that's more grass to cover the garden.

The beets and carrots are still tiny, just barely showing as a line of green against the brown. It will be some time before they can be covered.

I look at everything growing and it's as if I'm connected to the earth. Like I could sink my feet into the soil and take root. Winter has its own magic, but I'm not connected the same way.

I stood in my food forest the other day and looked down across my gardens to the fruit trees, and I just wanted to stay there all day. It makes me happy.