Could It Be...?

Here's a not-so-bold statement: Spring has arrived here in North Texas.

Our usual last freeze date is around March 15, and the forecast for the next ten days has nighttime lows nowhere near 40°, let alone 32°.

Am I gloating? Yeah, a little.

It's been a weird winter, the strangest one I can remember since coming here in 1989, actually. Every time I am with a bunch of other gardeners, the topic of our unusual winter always surfaces, mostly because we're not sure how our plants will react.

Several plants in my landscape did not go completely dormant, despite the single-digit temperatures we briefly saw in mid-December. I wonder how they'll be when the sweltering summer comes. This is a common comment from others too, regarding their own gardens.

In other news, I'm happy to report that my name was one of only 12 drawn in the recent Plano Community Garden plot lottery. (The plan is to eventually get up to 80 plots, but they're starting with a dozen for now.) I would have been terribly disappointed if I hadn't been selected, not so much because I've devoted several volunteer hours to the project already (in pouring rain and mud, at times...that's me in the green Target wellies below), but I just really, really want a plot to grow veggies in. Vegetable gardening is probably my favorite kind of gardening, and our current yard just has no space for such an endeavor.



The food we grow is being donated to a local shelter, which makes it even more rewarding. I am looking forward to spending many an evening tending to my new little rectangle of land.



My gardening engagements are starting to stack on top of one another, however. I'm supposed to be helping out at the Heard Museum Native Plant Sale on April 8, but now the Community Garden is tentatively planning to have the opening ceremony (complete with an appearance by the Mayor) on the same day. So, you know...being only one of a dozen folks to have a plot, I feel I should be there.

Besides, I can probably reschedule my hours for the Plant Sale. In fact, (and yes, this is self-serving and evil...), if I work the members-only pre-sale on Friday, I could get my hands on some yummy plants before the crowd descends...mwahahahaha!