We’ve had a freaky streak of weather lately here in the Midwest. First, we had a wicked ice storm followed by a big dumping of snow that closed just about everything. Then, less than two weeks later, we’re strolling around in T-shirts and sunglasses in 60° temps, sloshing through puddles of freshly melted snow. Yesterday, we had tornado watches and 12 hours of weird 60mph wind storms that knocked out power to thousands of folks who just had it restored from the ice storms.
And we’re not even halfway through February yet. Weird. Anyway, the other day, in further celebration of the sun and warmth and blue skies, I strolled through my beloved garden — stepping on only the rocks I’ve laid down, so as to stay off the soil — and peeked under the row covers blanketing my summer garlic beds. And what did I spy? My favorite first sign of Spring: green, green garlic stems poking a few inches out of the ground. Hello, darlin’!
Such a sight for winter weary eyes.
Peeling back the row covers revealed even more little sprouts. How lovely!
A funky, blurry little forest of garlic. (Ah, low-light photography.)
In one way, winter seems to be lasting forever (I’m a summer girl, if I haven’t mentioned that before), but in another, it seems just yesterday that I planted all of this garlic. And here you are, so soon.
casey marchal
Friday 16th of November 2012
i totally remember this year. i remember being able to walk down the middle of Miami road at noon. it was eerie