This was the scene just yesterday looking towards downtown Milwaukee. The ice is thick on the water this year. The Great Lakes are frozen over the most in over a decade. Ice fishermen are having to use extensions on their augers to get through ice over 3 feet thick. It is a good thing as our lake level will go up instead of down this year due to the evaporation loss being lower this winter. The added snow will also help increase lake levels which is also a good thing. It is just so hard being a gardener and waiting, waiting for spring to show us that it will come.
I heard the broad wing hawks out in the back yard trees calling back and forth today. There is some snow melt and temperatures are into the 40's again. We have a weather system moving in tonight but it is a promise of rain rather than white stuff. It may freeze, but temperatures are going up.
I have much to do in my indoor green space. I want to get some micro-greens going this weekend. I have my seeding schedule all laid out, but not on my calendar to make sure I do it on time. It is also time to make some cuttings and start pitching the old plants soon. Spring will come, in small, quiet steps. We turn to look and it disappears, but it is there.
I am looking forward to my annual Art in Bloom held at the Milwaukee Art Museum. I am taking my oldest daughter for her first time this year. I have a bonus day this year to spend with a college friend coming into town for the event. This is such a wonderful time to take in beautiful art work, floral arrangements, and see a world class building.
Spring will come, we just have to go and find it under the snow banks this year.
Yesterday was hours of basement gardening. After seeding tomatoes and my earliest flowers, I transplanted. Petunias and violas had set on sometimes two or three sets of true leaves. Peppers are not far behind. The coleus that I had cut was rooted enough to put into potting mix.
To make room for all the new transplants, I refilled the rooting jars with the rest of the coleus cuttings I allowed to grow on the plants the last time. The remainder of the coleus stock plants are now compost. I boosted these shorter plants up towards the light with buckets underneath the flats to optimize the artificial light being received by the leaves of the new transplants.
I am an early riser. This morning was no exception. After getting the ingredients for fresh bread in the machine, I settled in with a borrowed copy of the book The Worst Hard Time. I'm enjoying this lesson on the Dust Bowl of the 1930's and how it impacted lives and the environment. PBS did a similar two part documentary if you are not into reading. Both are worth the time spent.
I got up from reading to refill my coffee cup. The scene out my window changed in 30 minutes. This is Wisconsin. What was a gray and cold morning is now a white and cold morning. The peas that I put in the ground are suffering through the indignation. I did put a clear plastic tunnel over the row (concerned about excessive rain rotting the seed). I really am not sure how the peas seeds will handle this. Only time will tell. Gambling the old seed to the soil is worth the chance. There are more pea seeds at the garden center.
Sometimes, as a gardener, you have to make your best guess about what the weather will do. I gambled on the peas, but left the beet, radishes, and other root vegetable seeds on my kitchen counter waiting for a better day. Looking out the window, it seems that spring will never come. It will in its own time. I will continue to enjoy my book while I wait.
