spring is sneaking up on me

it was unusually warm out yesterday. when i went outside to turn the compost i noticed my chives are sprouting already! it’s a very well-established little patch of chives, but i was worried about them last year when they were pretty well choked out by some out-of-control oregano. anyway, seeing these little patches of green inspired me to spend nearly all day in the garden, weeding, cleaning, re-planting bulbs, organizing for spring...

i drew up maps in photoshop of all the areas of the yard where i’m planting, then segmented the drawings and started filling out what i want to put in each of the segments. i made a list of all the seeds i have, seeds to buy, plants i have, and plants to buy. i put together an excel spreadsheet where i can list everything i plant: the plant’s name, date planted, area in the yard, quantity or area of planting, expected days to maturity, et cetera. then i started a calendar with important gardening dates. i’m going about it very methodically this year; something new for me.

yesterday evening i went to a community education class on sustainable living, with a focus on food and household items. i plan to devote at least one entire post to these community ed classes i’ve been going to lately because it's been such an inspiring experience. last night the teacher was talking about community gardens and CSAs, so it was the perfect end to a day of gardening and got me even more excited about locally-grown organic food.

after class i rode my bike to the grocery store...it’s so nice to be able to ride at night and not be freezing cold...and when i walked into the store there was a huge display of potted spring flowers for valentine’s day. shelves full of gorgeous lilies and roses and daffodils...i spent a few minutes circling the display and sniffing everything. i think i might have to go back soon just to smell the flowers a bit more.