Sun Stars shine happily in a sunny window, waiting for the a-okay to go outdoors.
The wind blows hard, sending wispy clouds sprinting across the sky. A big storm is tormenting California, heading this way. I pray it is much ado about nothing. Hope the storm pummels the high Sierras and runs out of steam long before it reaches my short, squat Wasatch Mountains.
Happy Tulips keep me company indoors during this very trying month.
April is a teasing month. Warm sunshine, frisky ponies, tiny green sprouts peek up through the mud, declaring a change of season. Nurseries are loaded with brightly blooming flowers. Inspiring near constant repetition of the mountain spring mantra: "Watch and wait."
In April, I'm allowed to visit the local nursery every day if I'm so inclined. While I'm there, I can admire, drool, dream, plan. But, I cannot buy. Still too cold for planting.
This is the month I do the icky stuff. Like beg the local horse stables to bring me a truckload of that oh, so, fabulous free fertilizer. Bribe 'em a bit so they'll spread it around and save me some backbreaking labor.
Oh, yeah! On a visit to the stables, I came up with a big idea. I spotted a few horse troughs, removed from service because they leak. Six feet long, three feet deep... it took me 0.25 seconds to exclaim: Hey!
√ Cool, mountain nights can mess with tender veggies. We mountain gardeners can improve the odds by growing veggies in deck containers ~ container soils stay warmer, encouraging a better harvest.
* Oh! And, as long as I'm yakking about veggies... please promise you won't fall for the latest Miracle Gro t.v. commercial claiming it's quite all right to use their chemical fertilizers in your veggie garden. IMHO it is not quite all right to poison anyone. Especially yourself. Miracle Gro, and other chemical fertilizers, are banned from certified organic gardening. But, then, you already knew that, didn't you?
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