The Buzz in the Air

cherry tree in bloom

The five year old cherry tree in our backyard is blossoming something fierce, and the bees and such familiars are making good work of any and all nectar from the blossoms. The white frilly flowers of the cherry stand out against the drab-shaped reddish-green leaves displayed in an understated whorled pattern, as well as matches delightfully with the neon yellow wild mess of the forsythia shrub nearby.

To compliment the white and yellow, spring-bulbs ranging from blue to purple such as hyacinths and muscari, and violet pansies pop their head up wherever they are allowed. As I pull weeds out from around the bulbs and growing woody perennials, I smell the rich ambrosia of the many lobed florets of the hyacinths.

purple muscari

The apple trees are recovering nicely from the heavy pruning I gave them last week, but then I notice a ring of missing bark girdled around the base of our favorite tangy-yet-sweet yellow apple... I bend down to see very tiny chisel-like teeth marks at the edges of the bark; a rodent, dang it.

I don’t want to hurt the little guy but he’s hurting our apple tree so I dig around the bottom and see a very clear hole lead away from tree root and I am sorry lil mousey but yes I sprayed a hoseful of water down the hose, truthfully hoping that the culprit would flush out of the boulder retaining wall.

dormant garden in early spring

I stop, feeling guilty. What if there is a small mouse family living beneath the apple tree roots, perhaps they do not know how to swim? I continue moseying my way down the garden, checking out every corner of the garden for new growth of seeds planted in March, weeds that love my garden and/or pest disturbance.

Small spirals of bright red rhubarb tendrils stick out from the top of the pile of soil under the cedar tree and the peach has many more blossoms than it did last year, so that is exciting to see as well.

peach tree blossoms

baby bush beans

The 18 degree sun is a glorious break from the weeks of on-and-off spring rains and now everything is growing before our eyes.

I will leave you with one last comment about the progress of the indoor sprouting: while the tomatoes, pumpkins and watermelons only have their cotyledon leaves, the cold weather seedlings such as broccoli and cauliflower have multiple leaves, and are starting to broaden.

I will have to remember to set them out in the next few weeks a few hours during the day, to get them accustomed to the change in temperatures, before they are set out in the raised veggie gardens permanently.

pumpkins seedlings in strawberry punnet

On a lovely spring day as today, I am very grateful to be in cooperation with Mama Nature and grateful to be able to share it with you.