Just to wet your whistle for spring. Blue Dasher Dragonfly taken June 21, 2007 in our old pond. Temperatures here are rising from single digits to the 40s by the end of the week. My new lotus tuber has put up five leaves and two new shoots, the Towhee is still with us under the bird feeder, the possum made a visit last night, the male cardinals are chasing each other (a clear sign mates and territories are being chosen), birds are singing in the morning, the squirrels are playing peek-a-boo. Even though we just got a fresh four inches of snow over the weekend, spring is happening if you know where to look. Next week the 50s. The greenhouse will go up, I will be selecting seeds to plant, the snow will melt and you will be able to smell the earth. Birds will start looking for homes and checking out birdhouses so we will make sure they are clean and in good repair. Since we did a good job of mulching last year, that chore is already done but the pond will need to be cleaned out; we will hire the people who constructed the pond to clean it. This fall we will cover the pond with a net so we won't have so much to clean. When you clean a pond, you remove the old water and add new. All the dragonfly and damselfly nymphs are washed away and you need to add chemicals to encourage the bacteria that keep the pond clean to flourish. If you can avoid that process, nature will stabilize your pond and all the critters that balance it will keep it clean and fresh. We just have to remember when planting around the pond to leave room to attach the net. I will be transplanting the creeping thyme from the area where we feed the fish to the slope by the stream. The net can go over those plants with no trouble. Today is bright and sunny and the icicles are dripping and I am hopeful to see daffodils breaking ground next week.
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