Contrary to the above reports, spring is definetly not here. On the high plains old boss winter is reluctant to give up his reign. We get teasers like today where the temps are in the high 50's and the sky is cloudless but the incessant north wind reminds you of who rules the roost. We are supposed to have up to 6" of snow tomorrow and much colder temps. Why do we live here? It sure isn't because of the climate. Winters are harsh and long, spring is usually short and often brutal, summers often blisteringly hot with that again incessant wind. Then comes fall, glorious fall, warm days cool nights and usually settled weather, last October it snowed 33" but that is unusual. The river is lined with sandhill cranes and the sky in the early morning and evening is black with cranes. There are other hundreds of shore birds that use the Platte as a staging area, more kinds of ducks than I have a name for and the snow geese are covering the lake in town. When I was liuving with my grandparents, granddad had what he called a swale in the middle of a pasture and in spring it was almost always filled with snow melt making a pond perhaps 200 ft long and 50 geet wide. Not over a foot deep and we really weren't on any major flyway but invariably there would be some water fowl that would rest on it, probably because our ducks would spend most of their time there. Grandad would always let us know what birds he had seen but his greatest pleasure came when some snow geese stopoped there. It didn' happen every year but I can remember a number of times it did. He waould always say their name is ----- hypoborea, don't remember what he called the genus but we were entranced with the hypoborea part. He would always explain the that meant goose from beyond the north. Wish the taxonimists hadn't changed the name, goose from beyond the north sure sounds more exciting and exotic than the present days dry latin name. Just wrote a book again when all I was goling to mention was the weather.

BK, that picture of daffs is heart lifting! Wow! Around here, the Japanese magnolias are opening big saucer blooms, the grass is green, some of my hosta are pipping (mostly fragrant varieties), and still.....we had a 34 degree low last night. MadPlanter, I sympathize with you about single digit HIGHS in March? That is agonizing when spring is just around the corner. Good luck to all. Maybe today I can get pictures of the pippers in their pots, which I turn up on signs of life.

In my opinion best advice is to seek treatment for phobia. I had a severe phobia of dogs that I had to get treated and it is very worth it and I think a lot of people that have more "socially acceptable phobias" (e.g. spiders or snakes rather than beloved dogs, people thought I was evil for being scared of dogs! even though I have been up to cottonmouths before and been fine, didn't bother me,... but as a kid I got CHASED DOWN by dogs and attacked so...). We share this world with a lot of creatures, it's something to get used to. Desensitization&exposure therapy is best to build yourself up first before you ever see one. That being said, eliminating brush piles in areas you frequent/maintain a lot, keeping it open will keep snakes out of those areas and make them favor more wild spots. Keeping things open tends to be best for the more cultivated areas of the garden anyway, to maintain airflow. ALSO snakes are often not very active in the day except after rains. They don't like being out in the open especially in the day because one of their main predators, hawks, can see them. I rarely see snakes around my house and I have a bunch of brush lol I've only seen them out at night (there's the cutest baby kingsnake but i digress). avoid times when snakes are most active and you'll be a lot less likely to see them. anyway best of luck treating your phobia, it's a hard road but very worth it to be free of it

Good morning Prairie Moon and others, now the snow is gone except for small ridges where it was plowed up or fell off the roof. My husband has taken advantage of warm good weather days to do some outside chores but I have not. I would have made a very poor farmer. I never planted my high tunnel last fall since I did a lot of traveling which included my first ever trip to Italy, mostly the Amalfi Coast where lemons were everywhere and it seemed every hillside was planted with grapes. We were there just before the olive harvest. A vineyard we visited had a 300 year old grapevine with a trunk thick like a tree. I'm embarrassed to admit it has been so long since I looked at my seed lists that I don't remember what I'm planting. I do remember a tiny pepper which some people had in one of their meals. I tracked it down to being available pickled in a jar and called Sweetie Drops and low and behold on the pepper bar at Whole Foods in Bedford. A few years ago I planted quite a few pepper varieties because I was trying to grow my own Aleppo pepper and why not buy other interesting sounding peppers while I was at it. The good news from that exploit was sharing plants with a neighbor who is a library volunteer and it seems we are going to have a small town garden club this year. I also like to grow Buran which comes from Pinetree Garden Seeds. It's a very large, meaty bell type. For some reason tomatoes like being under the plastic roof of the high tunnel which then disrupts plans for seeding fall/winter crops. I had an excellent tasting purple and yellow cherry tomato that I think I bought at Edgewater Farm in Plainfield NH. I hope to grow it again IF I figure out what variety it was. The planting label might still be in the ground. I don't think it was a Bumblebee type. Good luck with a couple of raised beds which are probably the best idea is growing fewer vegetables if you can only decide which ones merit the privilege. We have good corn stands and surly raccoons so I don't try growing our own sweet corn. Raccoons outwitted us 35 years ago and I haven't tried since. Surely you will grow a few tomatoes and at least one pepper good for salads and/or frying up for sausage sandwiches (I like Carmen for that but it's not meaty enough for roasting.) And basil. Cilantro self seeds in the high tunnel. Dill self seeds outside. They are easy enough to buy at the store. Last year the new asparagus beds did not get properly weeded so that will be a priority this spring. The beds are infested with Creeping Jenny. I think lettuce is difficult, bolting so easily. Do you have good farmers markets nearby? Sometimes I think I would be a lot smarter to do a CSA. I usually make at least one trip to the Norwich VT farmers market which I think is one of the best and worth the hour + drive especially since I can go to Edgewater at the same time and they grow a wonderful variety of annuals. The inexpensive huge plastic pots I bought a couple of years ago at Ocean State had to be thrown out due to splitting etc. A red morning glory waited to start blooming just before frost so I won't try growing again. But a holly hock was new to our narrow south facing garden under our kitchen table windows which provided a great opportunity to watch hummingbirds. I also like to grow Scarlet Runner bean for that purpose. If we try to grow a couple of cherry tomatoes to have handy, we also get to watch a chipmunk climb tomato cages to feast. Chipmunks don't usually bother the tomatoes in the vegetable garden which is quite a few yards from the house. I think it's because they don't dare be out in the open that long with hawks and crows around. But what about sugarsnap peas? After tomatoes and peppers I think they are our next favorite vegetables. They are also the only green vegetable one fussy granddaughter will eat although she only wants the peas inside not the tasty pods. Green beans are also a favorite and I'm surprised it took me so long to plant pole beans. Fortex is a favorite. I had good luck growing on a metal trellis made from concrete reinforcing wire panel and pepper plants along the base. Well, I'm good at typing about gardening even if I don't get chores done. Alas this week looks like a great time to get outside and I have meetings and seminars. I hope others enjoy some outdoor time this week and tell us about it.