We have been in the 60's the last few days. Its lovely and distracting. I have had the windows open for the last 5 days. I am more than 10 weeks from the last frost date and at least 2-3 weeks from being able to start seeds. I was going to Wintersow this year, but in a way, i'm glad i did not. We didn't get much snow at all and we were quite warm some days. I bet i would have had sprouts that were soon frozen again.
I'm a bit worried about my fruiting trees and bushes. Though there are no obvious signs of early budding, if this weather keeps up and we get a frost, i'm sure to lose blossoms. I spent a good bit of time outside with my youngest daughter, so i was able to get a close look at things. The lilacs do look like they are waking up. It feels like May, not March.
I was surprised to see a honey bee today. She buzzed right up to my face so there was no mistaking what it was.... it worries me that the ladies are coming out already-- there are absolutely no flowers out yet. At least as far as i have seen... dandelions sometimes appear early- and if i still had crocuses i might expect to see them just breaking the surface but not blooming. I hope she was a domestic and her beekeeper is feeding sugar water.
The snow is gone from the yard, all but the shady part of he fence where the grapes are. A few strips of ice are left. The rhubarb is waking up. No word from the chives and welsh onions yet.
I have decided not to use the hoops this year, Unfortunately they allow the weeds to get a big jump on me, they are tedious to install and tedious to take down. Difficult to unhitch when it was time to weed. I think i'll just use the Remay as floating covers instead. We are also considering using black mulch to keep down the weeds this time. The weeds always get away from me and go to seed, so even with a 3-year old garden i still have weeds like a first year.
We are supposed to get into the 80's on Thursday. We'll see how much stranger this Spring can get!
