Waiting for Spring

What a difference a month makes. The garden that was buried in snow a short time ago is now visible and even has the first plantings in it, onions and leeks and a few early lettuce plants. It's hard to believe how fast the snow goes once it starts to melt. The biggest problem now seems to be keeping the varmints off the veggies. The winter lettuce, seeds sown in the fall to give us the first taste of green in the spring, was taken by starlings as soon as the first leaves appeared. The groundhog has been around, eyeing the spinach and who can blame her. In the urban landscape there's little enough for a ground hog to eat. I try to discourage her, however. As sympathetic as I am, it's my family I'm trying to feed here. I've got a kid's pinwheel, a nice shiny one, that turns in the wind, and the motion and the flashes of light seem to work somewhat to make her and the birds a little nervous about getting too close. I hope they don't get too accustomed to it before I get the netting up.