Get Ready, Here It Comes

Maybe.
Spring will be here soon.
MAYBE.
What fresh new hell have I awoken to this morning?

Ugh. 
Well, I can't really complain.  Spring snow on bare ground is what the old timer's call "poor man's fertilizer".   A few days ago I gathered up all the bags of waste hay and seed that I've been sweeping up in the barn all winter and scattered it around the bare spots in the pasture.  We had a decent rain that day to hold it down, and then this dusting of snow.  Maybe I'll get a little green out of that effort.
The Portland Flower Show was fun.  Small compared to the Freyburg show, but it was still nice to smell dirt and plants and flowers, and see all kinds of exhibitions.  We took in a lecture about habitat for pollinators that was really well presented by the creator of First Light Wildlife Habitats.  I'm happy to say that my Pollinator Plus Strip is on target for its purpose.  After dividing and transplanting plants last fall, I'm eager to see what it produces this year.  One goal for that particular garden is to dig out the grasses.  I had planned to leave them, as they produce seed that insects, rodents, and birds find useful (thus the addition of the word plus to the name), but since I'd like to sell this place I believe potential buyers would find it too unkempt.  I may even go so far as to add bark mulch around the plants, but we'll see how well my body holds up to the initial job at hand.
I've successfully resisted any premature seed starting this year.  Tomorrow I will set up my little greenhouse and prepare some trays for more salad greens, tomatoes, and peppers.  We're expecting a cool, damp spring, so I'll wait one more week before starting anything to ensure the plants don't get too leggy if they have to be kept indoors longer than normal.  Everything else I think I'll sow directly in the ground; squash, pumpkin, cucumbers, radish, peas, and beans.  I also have a multitude of annual flower seeds I can direct sow in various places around the property once the soil is warmed up enough. 
Even with this dusting of snow and the below freezing temperatures at night, there are signs of spring all around.  In the mornings I'm greeted by a cacophony of bird noises, trees are beginning to show buds, and perennials are pushing up through the ground everywhere.  As soon as we get a little warmer weather and it dries out, I can begin peeling the winter leaf mulch off my beds.  The fever is beginning to set in!

daffodils emerging from under the snow

oriental poppy in a perennial bed

 Bizzy enjoying a warm spring day in the yard