The daffs, the clouds, the promise of seeds in spring......

and now ...a few Spring words from Wordsworth, about the dreams of daffodils....
I wander’d lonely as a cloud
 That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
 When all at once I saw a crowd,
 A host, of golden daffodils;
 Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
 Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.....

 the full poem and its history at wikipedia.

 

Spring did finally come.......it took its own sweet time...as it always does.  I was out turning over the grass, liberating worms, and rolling in a lot of chicken poop and compost!
I'm really happy with the selection of old fashioned daffodils I planted last fall, and in late December.....I often have bulbs unplanted come spring when they should be blooming!! finallllllly this last fall, I only bought 50. and I got them all planted.
...this one is ... Fortissimo. It came on the market in the 1940's....since my house was built in 1942, I think it is a perfect match. 

Daffodils, botanical name, Narcissus....there is delightful and sad story there...another post to come. Daffs are native to Spain and Portugal. that seems strange, since I think of daffs as a cold weather flower, and Spain and Portugal are warm and sunny...but not always I suppose.....
Oh, look there. Somebody has a new cold frame.... courtesy of the husband.

(those apricot daffs are called "Accent")

A cold frame is such a handy dandy thing in the garden. A perfect place to harden off plants just before they go into the garden.....the big bad world full of storms, and hard rain, and bugs and slugs!
Here, in the cold frame, just a translucent box with a lid, that captures warmth (a mini-greenhouse), plants can ease themselves into the summer life of the growing season.

it regularly registers about 5 degrees warmer than the outside temp....and on a very warm day...say 72 degrees, I'll lift the lid or prop it open a few inches to be sure to vent the air if becomes too hot in there. We don't want to cook them!
I'm gonna line the bottom with rocks and bricks to act as heat sinks.

right now, I've moved my Black Krim tomatoes, and heirloom cherry tomato seedlings out here. Since these are old varieties, they are more cold tolerant than many other varieties of tomato.

Black Krim tomatoes are from Russia, near the  Black Sea region. So yeah, doesn't mind cold as much as say, Brandywine!  Black Krim is a beefsteak, so it will end up being about a 3" - 4"  squatty deep red/blackish tomato.  ....and the taste...so deep and rich.

Back in the early 90s, when I grew for my organic farm, and the farmer's market, I specialized in the Weird!!  green flowers, the black fruits and flowers, and of course, heirlooms. 

Hungarian hot wasx peppers, 3 different lettuces, pak choi, turnips, rutabagas, beets, radishes, and colorful carrots, 2 kinds of broccoli, peas, spinach.....

and that's just the spring planting!!