I Can Hear Them Talking To Me

I can ALMOST smell it in the air.  That hint of Spring, just around the corner.  I know there are still many feet of snow to melt, and it's supposed to be bitter cold again later this week, but my mind is willing that all away and trying to smell the Spring.  Just to imagine something alive, something other than snow and ice and shoveling helps me get out of my warm bed in the morning and face the chilly day.

That goofy Groundhog did his job the other day and figures we will have an early Spring and I'm willing to believe in that sort of prediction if it means I can get out of this winter rut and have something bright and warm to look forward to.

The seed catalogs have been whispering to me from the bottom of my magazine basket.  I've been frittering them away so as not to get too excited about a venture that seems so far away, but now that I've smelled the Spring, it's time to dig them out and start making lists.  And drawing diagrams.  And inventorying my seed starting arsenal.

This year I will be putting in the tried and true things that worked last year, which was actually EVERYTHING I planted.  I've been blessed with magic soil, but there are still a few things I want to get started early so they will actually produce before the first frost; pumpkins, eggplant, maybe some melons?  I can hardly wait to put on a fresh pair of garden gloves and dig my hands into the warm earth, to feel the spray of the garden hose against my bare legs.  I can already taste the fresh tomatoes, the pesto, and the carrots.  I can see the vases of sunflowers and cosmos, and all the other flowers I plan to add that I didn't buy in time last year.

If you don't get any seed catalogs in the mail, get on the internet right now, and get yourself on a mailing list.  Gurney's, Spring Hill Nursery, Burpees; just typing the names makes me giddy.  After reading through my catalogs every single page will be dog-eared and I will want one of everything, so I will go through a few more times to narrow down my selections.  But I know I will still end up not having enough room in my garden.  I never do.