Springified...and Loving It!

I’ve been Springified.

That’s my new word for that old notion of Spring Fever. Spring Fever sounds like a disease. I contend that longing for spring is NOT a disease. It is a condition of the human soul that doesn’t like winter. Oh I can take winter. I can take about a week of winter during the week of Christmas. I don’t even mind a White Christmas if my family has managed to arrive all in one piece for the family get-together.

After that, let’s go Spring.

My state of being Springified is assisted greatly by the State of Oklahoma. Oklahoma weather did its best for me last weekend, when the temps hit 70. Yes, I spent nearly the whole weekend out in the yard, and in the dirt. I love dirt. Dirt makes things grow.

So I planted some bulbs. Was supposed to plant those bulbs last fall, but they arrived by mail at Christmas time, and, as you may have already guessed, I was otherwise occupied at Christmas due to four grandkids and 10 great-grands. Oh joy.

So I planted the bulbs last weekend and am hoping for the best. But then I ran out of dirt. I’ve often wondered how a small-patch-owner (me) can run out of dirt on 10 acres. Well, my bulbs deserve good dirt, name-brand dirt, expensive dirt, so I constantly try to improve my flower bed with better dirt. It works, sort of. It would help if my thumb were greener, but I won’t let a little black thumb deter me from my gardening hobby.

So it’s back to the garden center this weekend for more dirt. I only hope my bulbs don’t mind arriving in that good dirt just a little bit late.

Oh how the garden center calls me. And all that beautiful stuff in the garden centers. Plants, and seeds, and tools, and, of course, dirt. I know! I know! It’s too early to plant anything. I force myself to bypass all those beautiful plants, many of which have already sprouted. I know that, if I set plants outside now, that last frost, which is certain, will kill any plants I can’t resist, dead.

But oh how I want to add to the strawberry bed, and put the leaf lettuce and radish seeds in the ground now. OK. I confess. Yes, I bought lettuce and radish seeds. But they are still in their packages. I have contained myself, barely.

In the meantime, I plan. That’s what gardeners do in the winter. They plan. A new flower bed is already ready, and this weekend my container garden will get revisited. (With a few hours off for the Super Bowl of course.) Getting ready for the garden is nearly as good as planting the garden. And my darling seeds will remain in their paper packages until at least March 1, or maybe sooner if I can’t contain myself.

And best of all, while I prepare the beds and the containers for spring, I will be out in the backyard, soaking up some Oklahoma sunshine, even though it’s a bit crisp yet. Because that sunshine is getting me Springified!