Ready for Spring?

Good day, friends!  Here in the mid-west our last few weeks of winter have been suspiciously summer-like.  Not kidding you, the kiddos asked me to fill the pool yesterday.  Near record highs have my garden (and everyone else's) doing wonky things.  It's also messing with me.  My allergies (and those of DearSon#3) are a mess.  Here in March I find myself already bringing out the big guns: antihistime and eyedrops (my typical allergy meds and asthma meds usually do it for me until June).  So here's where I choose to be content with it anyway.  

Blueberry bushes budding (2nd season for these)

I could easily be miserable, and lazy (my head feels like a fog).  Instead I'm going to find the silver lining.  March/April/May are usually nice for me.  Not so cold as to hinder my breathing, but the allergies are low.  Not this year.  Trees are budding, plants are sprouting, bulbs are up and ready to bloom.  So the silver lining is I can get a jump on my winter clean up!  May as well, since everything's growing anyway.  In being industrious there is contentment, for me.  Busyness, not so much -- I can be busy all day and still get nothing done -- but industrious, absolutely!

Roses (and lilacs) are budding like crazy!
Leaving the mulch for now.

It seems odd to be doing my spring clean up in winter, but c'est la vie ~ make hay while the sun shines, right?  So, the last two days were spent watering my transplanted strawberries (they are still alive and look to be growing!!!), tending my seedlings for this year's garden, cleaning weeds out while they are still dormant, taking frost-killed foliage out of the bulbs, hosta, and herbs, and pruning some bushes and roses (yes, I know this is better done in the cold, but we never got a lasting freeze -- I kept waiting for it, but it didn't stick around long enough).  The kids have been loving the weather, bare feet in the sandbox -- which of course gets tracked in and gives me yet another clean up to do, but I digress.  

Found the irises (center) and the chamomile (right)

I'm knocking things off my spring chore list, and it's not even spring yet!  I'm a tad type A ~ so I really enjoy crossing things off that list ;)  Some of these have yet to be tackled, but I love getting a jump on the list.  

Started 54 tomato seeds (3 types) this year --
planning on 28 in our garden.  Plant it forward, right?

This is the list I usually hit in late April / early May:

• start seeds, thin, add dirt, fertilize
• transplants/moving/thinning of perennials
• shape bushes
• ready herb garden
• take potted plants out for sunshine
• clean up after dog, tidy kennel
• till garden / plant taters (Good Friday)
• mulch around trees
• remove mulch from roses, tulips, herbs
• clean out dead leaves from perennials (I tend to let these mulch themselves, kinda lazy I know, but it seems to work)
• bring out sandbox toys and kids toys/bikes
• put out solar light spikes around sidewalks (new this year!), planters, and decor
• clean up garbage and broken stuff that has collected inside our fence 
• Start a load for the dump... if it's broken and you are not going to fix it SOON -- don't keep it!

Herb garden: chives, thyme, cilantro (seeded last year)

A few surprises, that will make a beautiful summer, if we don't get a late winter blizzaster:  Roses never died out (typically you lose the stems more than 6-12" above ground because it's just too cold and you can't cover them well) -- they are budding all the way up the 4' stems.  You see, I never pruned them because we didn't have a lasting freeze this year; they will be very full this year.  My parsley never died either last year, so I may have herbs early, too!  I see daffodils, tulips and irises growing... so color is on its way!

Parsley growing!

Sure, I could be worried we are headed for drought as there is no snow melt to saturate the ground.  I could fret over a late frost killing all those tender buds and plants.  I could even dread my garden not growing correctly because it's too hot all summer long.  But tomorrow will take care of itself, right?  

That's not to say I don't make preparations, but it's just not worth worrying over.  I cover my roses on frost warning, and we're installing rain barrels on our gutter system this year to conserve water.  I'm saving some of those things on the list until the right time of year, after frost risk.  But I'm reminded over and over: our Lord provides for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, how much more will he provide for us?!  There's no sense in worrying, in fact, we are directed not to do so.  We can and should be prudent, good stewards of what is in our care.  It took me a long time to learn to discern the difference.  We do what we can, the rest is in His hands -- and he already knows what's going to happen!  We just need to make the best of what's before us ~ attitude is a choice!