Snow White...Pear Blossoms!

   For the past month, we have had just about every "false" spring that could be dumped on a place.  We have even had a few "false" summer days added for good measure.  Now, however, Mother Nature has said "Enough of that!" and plans for us to have a winter weekend.  This is not good!  All of the citrus trees already have tiny fruits set and the pear and plum trees are in full bloom!  What are you thinking, Mother Nature??  I guess tomorrow will find me lugging those potted house plants back into the greenhouse and finding enough things to make temporary covers for the tomato, squash and pepper plants in the garden.  Yep, I did do that.  I planted far too early but the temperatures being in the 80s convinced me that our cold times were over.  Not so.

  So...winter is not over until Mother Nature makes up her mind and there is not a thing we can do about it other than accept it.  Mom always warned Pop about planting too early..."You know we are going to get that Easter freeze..." I can hear her now reprimanding me for the same thing.  I am far too like Pop and the older I get, the more that is evident.   Easter freeze???  Does that mean that this is not our last cold spell for the season?  Easter is still weeks away!

Too Much Like Pop

  The drear has returned.  The morning started with heavy clouds and a light drizzly rain.  It was just enough to make hiking miserable so instead of my usual rounds, I headed to the greenhouse.  I had to tidy that up a bit so I could find a place for the few trays of tiny tomato and pepper plants.  I made the mistake of planting early.  Mom always warned Pop of the "Easter freeze" but he never listened either.  Growing up on the farm it was not uncommon to see us scrambling to cover the new plants in the field.  I should have learned.  At least, I have the greenhouse with 24 tomatoes and just as many peppers whereas Pop had hundreds of each set in the fields.

  This morning, the sunrise didn't happen and all I could find of interest was a lone mottled duck sitting on the pier.  This confused me a bit because these usually are in pairs.  It made me wonder if the female was already laying eggs somewhere nearby.  Perhaps the ducks were not prepared for the "Easter freeze" either.  They were probably just as confused by the 80 degree days lately.  Time for spring!

  Hopefully, this cold spell will not hurt the fruit trees that are in full bloom nor the spring flowers that are shooting out buds.  Also, hopefully, this IS our "Easter freeze" and there will not be another come next month.  For that...we shall have to wait and see and, for that...I may be scrambling to cover plants in the garden and not just moving trays of seedlings.  I will never learn.  I am too much like Pop.

Hold Off...It is not Spring!

  Even though the temperature was a brisk thirty degrees this morning, I decided it was a good idea to head outside and do a bit of yard work. The brightness of the sunshine fooled my feeble brain into thinking it was springtime.  I knew different once the screen door slammed behind me.  Geez, it was cold!  The chill in the air did not deter me from my set plan.  The greenhouse was in need of a bit of straightening so I figured that was a good place to start.  At least there, it is warm!  The plants are doing well but somehow the place was a mess!  We had used the greenhouse as part of the clue hunt this past October.  In the process of taking down decorations, I missed a few so my greenhouse still resembled a bayou shack!  Oh well, I figured it does not really matter.  It is on a bayou after all! With that I started my "spring-cleaning"!  Wait...the weather says it is NOT spring, yet!

  It was while I was tinkering around in the greenhouse that I heard a familiar sound.  The fluttering of tiny wings made me look up to come eye to eye with the small Carolina Wren that nests in the place.  Last year, she chose the old watering can as a good, solid home in which to raise her brood.  Her aim was to reuse the old nesting spot, I suppose, so my intrusion was not welcome.  I reassured her that I meant no harm to her so we came to an agreement that she could have the back corner. I would piddle around in the plants near the front door.  Then....another familiar sound.  Oh, geez!  It is NOT spring, yet!

  A pair of Mourning Doves were doing their usual courtship in the grape arbor just outside the back door of the greenhouse.  One bird was on the arbor and the other was in the tall oak tree next to it.  Their amorous cooing could be heard loud and clear through the many windows around me.  Birds...it is NOT spring!

  The Mourning Doves will start making nests early in the year and continue through spring.  (They are not the best homebuilders as their nests often fall apart well before the baby birds fledge.)  Finally, the female will chose her nest and lay a pair of eggs.  After the eggs hatch, both the mother and father bird will feed them.  Both birds form "pigeon milk" in their crops.  This starts to be produced two days before the baby birds hatch.  It is regurgitated to feed the little ones until they can fend for themselves.  Pigeon Milk looks a lot like cottage cheese and is high in protein and fat.  It helps the little ones grow fast without the parent birds having to search for food constantly.   The only other birds besides doves and pigeons that have this ability are Flamingos and Emperor Penguins.  Still, it might be wise for the birds to hold off just a little bit.  We will still have a bit more cold weather and those baby birds might not like it!  After all....it is NOT spring....yet!

Mom was right

  It has been springlike weather here for the past month or so. Things are green!  Flowers are blooming!  Birds are nesting!  And now, a cold spell is to settle in on us.  Hmmm?  Mom was (and is still) right.  Her warnings that an "Easter Freeze" is going to hurt my little seedlings may be all to correct.  She used to fuss at Pop for planting his tomatoes, peppers, squash and corn early in the year.  He was always eager to "get things going" in the garden.  When that late cool spell would hit, most folks could waltz out to the garden and cover their ten tomato plants but Pop had hundreds set out in the field. How do you cover those?  He might have several acres of sweet corn already several inches high and squash or cucumbers well on their way to becoming nice size plants.  Acres of plants are hard to protect from the elements.  I can remember getting off the school bus and hearing him call to the kids "Come on.  Lets go cover those plants."  No easy task.  He had an old shed in the field that housed fertilizer and a several hundred plastic flower pots.  It was our job to retrieve the pots and cover the small tomato and pepper plants. Those pots were usually filled with creepy crawlies!  I can recall finding Black Widow Spiders in the pots on more than one occasion! While the kids covered plants with flower pots, he was on the tractor carefully using the cultivators to pull dirt over the corn, squash and cucumber seedlings.  After the threat of frost or freeze, we would uncover those same plants.  The dirt had to be pulled away by hand so a good deal of our time was spent on our knees. Good times!

  Today, Michael and I headed out to "frost-proof" our own little garden plots.  The Little Bayou House gardens can never compare the the acres upon acres that Pop planted.  My three short rows of squash only contain about thirty-six plants.  A few planks and some blankets sufficed.  The raised gardens were easier.  When Mark constructed them, we were pleasantly surprised to find that some old windows fit perfectly across the top!  Since the plants were still small enough to sit inside, I just placed the glasses across the boxes.  Those plants are snug as a bug in a rug!  

  Now we shall see if the plants survive!  Mom's prediction of cold weather still rings through my head each time I jump the gun and plant early.  I can't help it.  Planting is something I was taught to love. That old saying "You can take the girl off the farm but cannot take the farm out of the girl." sure applies here!  Old habits die hard.  Stay warm!