Spring Fever

March is a little bit early to get spring fever (if you live in the North) but I am starting to feel restless and really can’t wait to get back outside and play in the dirt.

We have virtually no snow left and when the sun shines it seems like it might be warm out, but the temperature in the morning is still in the 30’s so looks are deceiving.

Yesterday though, I was lured outside and saw some grass growing in my garden.  I tried to weed it, and that’s when I realized it really isn’t spring yet.  The ground was frozen and the grass just broke off.  That being said, some of the sugar maples have buds on them and daffodils keep trying to grow.

Daffodils were hiding under a cover of dried leaves.
Now, they are stretching eagerly towards the sun!

I would suggest if it’s at all possible to cover some of your more tender perennials with evergreen boughs or straw because the constant freezing and thawing we’re getting can be fatal to some perennials.

My cat has spring fever, too.  He is an indoor cat but he likes to go outside and roll around on the patio in the warm weather.  Lately, he’s been meowing to go outside every morning, but is very disappointed when it’s not 75 degrees outside.  So then he turns around and gets huffy and races around the house in a little snit for a few minutes.  I know just how he feels!

My remedy for spring fever is to look at all my plant catalogs and magazines again!  The pages are getting worn. I’ve looked at them so many times. Every time I make a new list of things I’d like to buy. It’s amazing that what catches my attention today isn’t always the plant that drew me in yesterday.  So then I have to revise, or add, to my list. Such are the problems of gardeners.

 I actually play a game with myself that my sisters and I used to play when we were children and got a toy catalog before Christmas.  We would turn the pages and allow ourselves one thing on every page!  If there were no good things on a page you could buy two things on a good page!  We played this game for months before Christmas with no expectations of getting any of the things.  The fun was in the game itself.

Well, now I’m playing the game with plants and flowers instead…and I still love the game!

Spring Fever can be a good thing if you use the feeling to help you prepare for your new bigger, better garden! My father in law has already purchased all his vegetable seeds for his annual garden and he has been busy painting new garden stakes to mark where he’s planting all his seeds.

My daughter has drawn up a map of her new garden and I think she’s ordered all her seeds, too.  Drawing up a map is an excellent way to plan your garden and if you’ve had a garden in the same spot before it is a good idea to move things around a bit so you’re not always planting the same crop in the same spot. Different plants require different nutrients from the soil and rotating your crops will give you consistently better yields.

When I get spring fever it usually is more about the scent and look of perennials than vegetables-maybe because I know I will benefit from all the surplus veggies that my daughter and father in law will grow!  So I get to devote all of my small space to flowers!  It’s a win win situation for me!

My favorite catalogs that have been taking the brunt of my spring fever this year are Jung Seeds & Plants, which has a wide variety of both vegetables and flowers, Roots and Rizomes-2015, which has gorgeous pictures of day lilies and hostas. I will definitely be ordering some stuff from them.  I just haven’t made up my mind yet what will be on the final list.

I also have a subscription to English Gardens. I could look at the pictures of roses and English country gardens in this magazine for hours! (It’s how my gardens look in my dreams!), and finally High Country Gardens which I love because it not only lists plants, but it also has everything organized by the kind of environment that it thrives in.  I usually read this catalog from cover to cover-multiple times!

It might be a month or more yet before my spring fever will abate with new leaves on the trees and new flowers in the garden but in the meantime I’ll use my energy to dream and plan and hopefully order for a new growing season! 

Here’s hoping if you are suffering from Spring Fever, too. you’re planning and dreaming of a new bigger, better garden like I am.

Thanks as always for gardening with Julie.