The Little Season That Could

Today's post is brought to you by the number five.  That's how many degrees below and inches of rain above normal it was for the month of March.  April is looking to be slightly less ornery, but let's not get our hopes up. 

Melianthus major (Honey Bush)

At the NW Flower & Garden Show in February, one of the speakers (an executive from Monrovia I believe) said he had yet to see a Melianthus major go to flower in the Northwest.  Well, have I got news for him.  Not only did mine bloom last summer, but it's about to bloom again!

One thing that has been growing incredibly fast lately is the kale in the garden.  This couldn't have been a better winter for cole crops - cool, rainy, and mild.

Hepatica nobilis

Hepaticas...how can something so pristine emerge out of soil that's so wet and murky?

Some radishes, on the left, are off to a great start and should be ready to eat in a couple weeks.  The peas, on the other hand, are not.  Only two peas emerged from the soil.  I dug through to see what the problem was, and they were all gone!  Something's eating them...no clue what though.

Berberis darwinii (Darwin Barberry)

Thanks to a mild winter, this evergreen barberry has been in bloom since November and doesn't show any sign of stopping.

Dicentra (Bleeding Heart)

The Taunting Begins.

Today is the last full day of winter, but I don't think too many people around here are celebrating.  In the Northwest, spring is like a 2nd winter.  The weather is negligibly warmer, barely drier, and not that much sunnier.  Here is the forecast for the first five days of spring in Seattle:

Spring is the season when Alaska throws it's left-over crummy weather directly toward us.  The only real difference from winter is a longer day length.  Let's be thankful that is not easily changed.  I remember a few years ago when March was half a degree colder than February.  To top it off, mother nature occasionally teases us with a sunny day or two during the middle of the week - usually right before several weeks of constant rain and/or snow.

But in spite of the cold and miserable weather, many plants continue to put on new growth.  I don't know why or how they do this.  Above, Paeonia suffruticosa is already preparing bloom.

Below, a patch of kale that was planted last summer in the vegetable garden is starting to bolt.  The seed heads are actually not too bad tasting.

I also planted some potatoes that I saved from last year.  I dug these up in October, put the big ones in the refrigerator to eat, and stored the small ones in this box.  I should have stored them in a box within a box so it would be completely dark since I discovered the smallest amount of light will trigger growth.

The two varieties pictured here are Yukon Gold and Adirondack Blue.  I also got some Adirondack Red potatoes a couple months ago and have already planted them in pots.

Last year, I wanted to get the potatoes off to an early start so I did this technique which worked really well:  I got several 3-5 gallon plastic pots, put about 4" of potting mix in the bottom, laid the potatoes in, then sprinkled another 2-3" of potting mix over the top to cover the potatoes.  I then placed the pots in the greenhouse where the potatoes quickly started to grow.  As they grew, I added more potting mix in the pots.  In early May, I planted them out in the garden.  By the end of summer, the number of potatoes had increased tenfold.

There are never enough seed trays at this time of year.

Growing in the tray below, from left to right, are some red bell peppers, English daisies, watermelon, walking stick kale, and carving pumpkins.  Also in the lower-right corner of this picture are three Berberis darwinii seedlings collected from the Arboretum.