The farmers market can be confounding this time of year, at least in our neck of the woods on the East Coast. It's sunny and springlike outside, but most of the produce at the market is still last fall's root vegetables and fruits. Spring -- so tantalizingly close, yet so far away!
That all started to change this week. Walking through the Dupont Circle farmers market yesterday, we spied the surest sign that spring has sprung: bunches of asparagus.
Young, tender little green stalks, bunched together like small bouquets.
Just outside our kitchen door, where we have two planters that hang off our back staircase, a bird had made itself at home, right in the middle of our chive plant.
Barrelling out the backdoor, unaware that we had a new resident, we and the bird startled each other. She took off, revealing a nice surprise.
Last fall, we were a bit ambivalent about whether or not we'd garden again this year. We got a lot of enjoyment out of watching our plants grow, but we were also disappointed by our overall yield, and as we shared in the wrap-up of last season, even our small garden is a whole lot of work.
But then winter came, and the seed magazines started showing up. We're immune to the charms of most catalogs, but seed catalogs, with their (sometimes faux) country charm, reel us in every time.
With a bit of reluctance, we're heading back into the garden. But we're making some changes this year that we think will help simplify our gardening lives.
