To Spring or Not to Spring

For a few days, it was t-shirt weather, the sun was bright, the sky was blue and cloudless. Then temperatures plunged again and it snowed. Yesterday was sunny but the wind was from the Arctic. Tiny snow pellets flicked my face as I walked the dog and eventually turned to rain. We will see what today brings.

I watch a lot of YouTube on gardening, and every spring there's a rush of videos telling me what to plant in March. I pull out my seed collection, sort and plot, ponder and plan, and go hopefully to my window. Still snow on the ground. Sigh. Put away the seeds for another few weeks. 

One year I did try the suggestions (for my hardiness zone) to plant peas and radishes, etc. in March. They didn't surface. I replanted in mid-May and then we were off to the races. One year my peas didn't surface until July.

This year I'm going to go back to my tried-and-true method of waiting to plant the cold-hardy crops until the maple trees blossom. The buds are swelling now, but we still have some time to wait. The warmth-loving plants go in when the peonies bloom. We may not be able to guess when the weather will warm, but the plants always know. I've learned to trust them.