grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Spring Planting!

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spring planting

I love driving across Arkansas during spring. In the Ozarks, redbuds and dogwoods compete for attention, and roadsides are exploding with wildflowers. Spring planting is in full swing as farmers and gardeners put seeds in the ground. It’s no secret that harvest is my favorite time of year, but after a slow cold winter, spring planting is cause for celebration. Not that there’s time for a party.

Party in the field, maybe.

Of course, without spring planting, there would be no fall harvest. And timing is key. With spring comes wild weather bringing storms and hail, tornadoes, dust storms, a chance of frost? Rain, rain go away until we need another shower.

The soil is rich and wide awake, the fields leveled and hipped. The state is humming.

Here are a few spring planting pics from across Arkansas…Continue Reading

Dear April,

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Dear April,

Dear April,

March was a whirlwind (literally and figuratively) and now here we are. April One. Winter is gone. Spring is here for real.

April reminds me of Easter, even though this year, Easter has already come and gone. Some of my favorite flowers bloom in April—tulips, daffodils, iris.

tulips
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This is how it starts, the happiness of spring. ???

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Spring has sprung in my garden and I’m feeling the happiness of spring. I worried about my tulips when our temperature plunged to a rude 25 degrees a few days ago, but bulbs are hardy and they were unfazed. Last night we had wicked weather and I spent some time in my safe place. I felt a little silly sitting in the closet with my purse but with “TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY” warnings blasting through my phone and television and tornado sirens wailing in the neighborhood, I decided I’d feel even sillier when I woke up dead.

Lucy and Annabelle wanted nothing to do with holing up in the closet. I see regular tornado drills in our future.

Luckily, we survived. Our flowers survived. I pray everyone else did because it seemed to be a severe storm. Maybe it blew the crazy March winds out of here…

So back to spring.

Check out this daffodil. What a gorgeous surprise. It bloomed from a bag of bulbs labeled mixed yellow varieties.

daffodil

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