20 April 2009

A snapshot of spring.

Lewisburg.

Spring is here. The violets are out:

violet

The crabapples are ready to burst into bloom:

crabapple buds

The thyme is looking bigger and better than it was when I covered it up in the fall:

thyme

And the grow table is covered in miniature greenery:

Grow table

Complete with lovely little true leaves on the tomatoes.1

Tomato true leaves

True to spring form, it's also raining today, meaning that the radishes, turnips, and shallots can wait a little longer for planting. I doubt they'll mind all that much.

* * * * *

1They're looking even better today. This photo's from a week or more ago, and they're at the point where I need to seriously consider thinning them out.

5 comments:

Ben said...

Hmm Brian, your growing table looks suspicious. Do I spy a relative of hops with a five-pointed leaf growing in the far corner? (j/k) Great idea, I am jealous of both your herbs and space.

Blythe said...

I'm so jealous of your plants, especially the violets. I feel like spring doesn't start in the Midwest until, like, July. And being in the city makes it worse: there is green grass (hooray!), and then nothing for at least 5 feet above the ground, then there are barren tree branches. Not a lot of color. Or leaves. Or any other signs of life. Just people walking around without parkas... a good sign.

Brian Garthwaite said...

Silly Ben. Those five-pointed leaves are outside under the camouflage netting, of course.

Oh, I remember Chicago springs. Nothing but gray for a long time, punctuated by the sudden arrival of spring flowers: crocus, daffodil, tulip. The best was always the morning that the flowering cherry tree on my usual walk to the El erupted into bloom. Branches and twigs one day; white and pink the next.

melissa said...

whoa, your tomatoes are WAY bigger than mine - they haven't eve surfaced yet. But I've got tons of lettuce sproutlings... The wheelhouse is my own personal grow centre.

Brian Garthwaite said...

Yea, they're really taking off under the new setup. Last year, I had a set of four shelves, each with two 32W fluorescent tubes above it. This year, it's all spread out on a table with the two-lamp fixtures about 9 inches on center. Lacking a built-in greenhouse like yours, it's the best I can do.

Fortunately, like your wheelhouse, it's a way of repurposing the basement into something really useful. And, like everything else in the garden, it's part functional tool, part experiment in seeing how much use I can wring out of miscellaneous items from the hardware store. (Future posts on deck planters and outdoor fencing will happen when I've got good pictures.)