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| "We are stardust. We are golden..." Joni Mitchell |
Spring is a beautiful season. I think it's my favorite. Or did I once say that fall was my favorite? It's like deciding which flavor you like best. Not possible. There's something special about the spring: so much happens all at once.
The frogs are carousing like mad, making so much noise at night I am tempted to keep our window closed, but I never do. I remember how amazed I was last year at the racket they made. It was such a new thing. We have so many frogs around our pond that our cohort must surely include every kind available in Addison County. That would include bullfrogs, green frogs, tree frogs, and most likely the Northern Leopard Frog since this one is, after all, the state frog of Vermont.
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| The Frog of Vermont! |
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| The diminutive tree frog, about the size of a silver dollar |
On the rear patio I have come across two garter snakes so far, hiding under the peppermint and the oregano. In our shed there is at least one robin nest. A few days ago the baby birds emerged from their shells. We have not moved the shovel handle or the yellow ladder since we noticed the nest.
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| Mother bird, about a week ago |
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| Two babies, one visible, but there may be more |
It has become green very quickly. Our meadow grasses are already so high that if Ken hadn't made paths with our mower we'd find it hard going. Farmers are making their first cuts of hay this week. We have no idea (as usual) when our hay will be cut. Our old hay bales, some in their second year, were all removed some time in April while we were away. Why? Who knows.
Our ground is amazingly fertile, as I know I have mentioned before. This means that weeds grow as enthusiastically as cultivated plants. I'm not exaggerating. They appear overnight. Perennials are becoming enormous, and yet this is only their second year! If they continue at this rate I may have to start dividing them next year. Last year I planted several peonies, a plant I hadn't been able to grow in Lexington because there was too much shade and not enough space in the few really sunny places. The ones I planted here didn't do much last spring. But now...ahh!
So far I have planted sunflowers at the tail end of the garden strip, just like last year. Also: winter and summer squash, by seed; anaheim peppers, some other kind of peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, leeks, arugula, lettuce, spinach, and in the herb garden, sage (to replace sage that didn't make it through the winter, maybe because of the lack of snow cover), parsley, rosemary, dill, and some strawberries. The mint I put in last year is already outgrowing its bed. (This is mint with provenance: I brought the first plants came to 2209 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, from Deerpath Farm in Bradford, Vermont in the 1970's, then took some to Dexter Road in Lexington, and gave some to Leah, and to Lesley in Melrose, then to Lesley in Vermont some seven years ago, and then I took some back for this herb garden.) Last fall I pruned the raspberry stalks so we should have even more raspberries this year than last.
Flowers are everywhere alongside the roads: buttercups, clovers, and–particularly here on Hallock Road/Maple Street–a lovely flower called "Dame's Rocket," a member of the mustard family and related to phlox. It can be pink, white, or purple.
Lest anyone imagine that our garden is worthy of a garden tour, I have to disabuse you. It is actually fairly plain, consisting of a strip of something here, a strip of some other stuff there. No big focal point. However, I like to think I passed along a gardening gene, because Lesley's garden (the next house down the road) is gorgeous, and Leah's (in Newburyport) is spectacular.
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From the local police
blotter:
“Served a
no-trespass order on April 6 on a local woman who was not wanted at Middlebury
Foot Care on Court Street.”
DOG ACCUSED
“Heard a
complaint from a woman that her neighbor’s dog was eating her cat’s food.”
