April March is the Cruelest Month

APRIL is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
-- T. S. Eliot, from "The Wasteland"

I hereby challenge Eliot's assertion that April is the cruelest month. Early March's false promise of spring followed by several inches of snow and sub-polar windchills reaffirms its legendary leonine qualities and taxes the human spirit to a point nearly beyond recovery. On separate occasions within the last 24 hours, both my wife and daughter have commented that it feels like December, and we are all verifiably stir-crazy as we persist in trying to predict the next of the many bi-polar mood swings that the month will invariably throw at us. The cruelest month indeed, as the view from the front porch below demonstrates. (Click photos to enlarge.)


On the other hand, the "Giant from Italy Parsley" is coming along nicely and doing its part to help me retain some sanity. Germination has been good. There are a few empty cells yet, but there is still hope for those.


And the onions are already in need of a haircut. Best practices dictate keeping them no taller than 3-4 inches up until transplant time in order to encourage root and bulb development. They seem to have no problem flourishing under the grow lights thus far.


The broccoli has been thinned and some of the seedlings are beginning to develop sets of true leaves. They've been given their first foliar spraying of kelp fertilizer and I'll be adding a little liquid fish emulsion in the next watering.


So all of the seedlings are doing well and I'm just waiting for the weather to warm up enough so that I can harden them off and move them to the cold frame outside within the next couple of weeks. Then I can start another round of plants under the lights and at least begin dreaming of heirloom tomatoes.

HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S TIME*

*Also from "The Wasteland"