Green things, Spring and Allergies

I'm mad. And let me tell you, this is not okay. I am mad at Kansas for giving me the worst round of allergies I've ever had, and in the spring no less.

What a jerk.

One sick day, a doctor visit, two active prescription, a scratchy voice and three work days later I am kind of feeling better. Kind of. I never want to eat another cough drop as long as I live. (Though, probably I will have to pop a few of those tonight).

I am mad at Kansas because Springtime here is my favorite time of year in the prairie. Suddenly, it's in the 70s and sunny. The winter wheat is popping up all over the place, giving the earth a jolt of green in a very brown place. Since I've been dealing with crazy-intense allergies, I've barely enjoyed any of the lovely weather.

It's a good thing I have this blog to complain about the weather in Kansas, hey?

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the weather will stay in the 60-75 degree range for awhile and that my allergies will let up soon because I do want to celebrate spring. Good things happen in spring, like getting all excited about my upcoming garden. Every year at this time, I am determined to make my garden even better than the year before, hopefully making fewer mistakes (like not over watering my tomatoes. Who knew?)

And it is time to divert this blog back to recording my gardening habits (which is one of the main reason why it exists). So I am happy to declare (in my scratchy voice) that I officially started gardening as of yesterday. I added what composted material I could to my cold frame box and planted spinach. Here's to hoping it does okay. My Dad built that cold frame for me 2 summers ago, but I have never gotten the soil to a point where the spinach does well in there. Maybe this year is the year. I really hope so. A couple of springs ago, when I was still had garden boxes at the Bakers, I had boxes of greens. It was beyond dreamy.

Moreover, I started the beginning stages of getting a raised bed (also built by Sanford) set up. Yesterday, I dragged it out of the garage, positioned it, laid cardboard on the bottom and covered that with wet leaves left over from fall. I am hoping to plant onions in this box. (Since I cook with onions practically every day, having it near the house will be a definite bonus). But first I need to get some dirt, which is always tricky. I hate spending money on dirt and manure. It feels so silly, but is quite necessary. According to the Farmer's Almanac online, I can plant onions outside near the end of the month. We'll see if I am organized enough by that time to make that happen.

In other gardening news, I am continuing my plot in the community garden. So now it is just a waiting game for whenever Ryan, who orchestrates the whole thing, can till the garden and mark off the various plots.

The point of my garden is to not let it stress me out, which it inevitably does. I am going to Guatemala for 10 days in April. Hopefully I can work my garden plans quite easily, on-time, and stress free around that time.

Who knows.

Happy new garden season.

Now, Kansas, stop trying to murder me.