Planting Season

All four of the lilacs bloomed this year-- one was so completely covered in flowers that I could smell it all the way up the driveway. The frost didn't kill the tomatoes-- perhaps wrappng them in bubble wrap helped, but it probably just didn't get cold enough.

And, for the first time ever, there are at least five little reddish lumps at the ends of the branches of one of the pear trees. The fig trees are predictably covered with the beginnings of figs. Everywhere are hillsides covered with white blossoms. I mentally note the good patches and make plans to return in July to harvest blackberries. The ones in the store have no personality or character. Somehow they just taste better if I mix them with the trickles of blood from where the thorns snag my skin, or the sweat that splashes on them from my forehead.

I put in a bed of strawberries, this time, but I don't expect them to do much this year. If the rains continue, they will settle in and I'll be able to make strawberry-rhubarb pie next year. I split one of the rhubarbs into two plants and moved them into a better spot, and I sowed the seeds they made last year. I see little plants in between the beans which might turn out to be baby rhubarbs. If they are, I will nurture them & try to coax them into dressing a border in one of the other flower beds. In addition to the tomatoes and the strawberries, I planted mounds of butternut squash, yams, crook-necked squash, cantaloupe , green beans, cucumbers, camomille, feverfew, tarragon, St John's Wort, cilantro, lavender and an assortment of hot and sweet peppers. The peach tree would collapse if all the peaches on it were to survive. They won't, of course-- the impatient squirrels are fond of them under-ripe and bitter.

We talk about expanding the garden, but the effort required to unearth the posts and dig new holes is already beyond us for this year. Maybe in the fall. The Wayard E talks about getting a goat which she plans to abandon, once the novelty has worn off, on my doorstep. I consider finding another dog to keep Virgil from being tempted to take up with the coyotes. Our neighbor has installed a camera in the woods across the street from his house to catch pictures of the herd of deer.

Spring is a good time to dream, before the dry winds wither our hopes and the fruit falls too early, leaving us with another barren season.