I think I just caught the feeling of Spring!

Maybe you can’t tell from this picture, but it is happening! Ever so slowly, sol is creeping more to the north every day as February is now nigh. Now, with global warming taking a firmer hold, a beautiful day in the upper sixties became a reality this date as I wandered out and about my yard checking to see what might be growing and what is still in winter repose.

My small planting of Romaine lettuce is hanging in there. From past experience, I know that as the days lengthen, these small plants will have a growth spurt. A short time later, I should have some pretty decent heads to harvest.

Also, up and growing are the tulips I planted last August. Some of the plants are now about two to three inches high. Wow! I wonder if I can have blooms even in February? That would be a real jolt and a further confirmation that the climate is a changing. A subject of a recent Scientific American article that discusses how past changes in climate have brought down entire cultures!

Check out my webcam at WUnderground.com!

Check your seed packets! It's getting warmer!

For the first time since 1990, the feds have updated and released a hardiness growing map that has added two new zones and which has seen a shift to the north for many area of the country. While not admitting to global warming they felt something had to be done when folks in locations like Illinois began to observe bushed beginning to flower in January!

Here in southwest Missouri, I'm getting ready to welcome spring in late February by planning on working my raised beds a full month earlier than normal. I want to get onion sets planted as early as possible to give them a proper chance to bulb up. According to the new map, I went from Zone 6 and am now flirting with Zone 7. Wow!

Tulips I planted in the fall are already up!

And you know what? I think, it being the first week of January and all, that it’s a wee bit early for that sort of nonsense to be going on! We still have a ton of time yet to go and I’m a fearing that these bulbs will get hurt when the weather takes a real nose dive.

I was given these bulbs by a lady who drove by my house one day and offered them to me, saying that she had these as leftovers. I thanked her and planted them in both the front and back yard in selected spots. Then forgot about them until one afternoon a day or so ago, I spotted them coming up. My thinking it that the weather has been a lot warmer than it should be. December was warm and January has been warmer still! I have to wonder. Is this due to global warming? Or, it is just Mother Nature being her flaky self? Well, we still have eleven weeks of winter to go and time will tell.

On a positive note, my romaine lettuce and kale have done well in the small cold frames I maintain out front. Even a small patch that was planted on the ground is still growing nicely. And, while the harvest will be sporadic and small, it still is nice to get some fresh greens this time of year. While at the grocery, yesterday, I saw heads of iceberg lettuce that were selling for $1.69 a head. Eee gads!