The Search For Spring

The lingering cold is messing with my internal compass this year.  And with my perennials.

Usually, my daffodils are out in full bloom by this point in the year, but they are holding back:  a few are looming, but not all at once, as if they are still fearful of showing off their Spring bonnets because of the cold and frost.  The same is true for my tulips.

It's even true for the johnny jump-ups that The Peanut talked me into planting ages ago, and which have seeded themselves so prolifically around our yard ever since.  I didn't think anything could slow those little, aggressive bloomers down, but I was wrong.

Ended up not planting anything yesterday, as much due to being too tired to deal with lugging compost around to enrich the raised bed soil as anything. 

Today, though?  Cold be damned, I'm finding a way to at least get the planting bed ready and popping some onion sets into the earth if nothing else.

I am in desperate need of some springtime. 


Even if I am making it happen by force of will and a little hope for a warmer tomorrow.  Call it my act of faith by seeding my own ground, if you will, a promise of warmth and life and sunshine to come all at once in a tiny little square foot garden.

There is magic in planting a garden of your own.  One of the things I love most is sharing that magic with my daughter, watching those seeds go into the ground and then sprouting into new life all at once, little seeds popping out those tiny green leaves which then grow into something edible over time. 

My eternal hope is that by growing the veggies together, The Peanut will eat more of them.  Can't blame a mom for dreaming, can you?  Here's hoping this is the year, for she will be a whole lot healthier for it if she'd just eat more fruits and veggies on the whole.

That is my project for this year for all of us in our little family:  more fruits and veggies.  Consider this my way of trying to sneak a few healthy tidbits in by the side door out to the garden.

If you have had success getting the people in your life to eat more healthfully, please share how you have done it in the comments.  I'm looking for some good ideas, because I really, really want this to be a success -- for all of our sakes.

(Photo by Christy Hardin Smith.  All rights reserved.)