First dandelions

Yesterday I found the first dandelions of the spring, haging out from between some rocks on our rock wall.

A lone narcissus

The sun is out again today after a rainier day yesterday. A lone narcissus has opened its petals.

Wood anemonies

Today was an absolutely lovely warm sunny day and we were out most of the day, washing cars, cooking, and sowing a whole lot of different seeds in small pots. We now have basil, oregano, dill, parsley, radishes, aubergines, peppers, cucumbers, zucchinis, coriander, sun flowers, marigolds and lavender in the pots. At least. I might have frogotten something.

Our yard has all sorts of flowers blooming now. I was totally surprised when I noticed the patch of wood anemonies on our yard. They are way ahead of their normal schedule! 

Spring and sun are here again

Sun came back bringing the warmth of spring here again. Crocusi are blooming, tulips are pushing out buds, first trees and bushes are getting leaves, our apple tree has small red buds and the blackbirds have returned. The nature is waking up and our yard is full of surprises!

Liverworts spotted

It must be spring. Birds are chirping, wood peckers are pecking and I've spotted the first liverworts :)

To snow or not to snow

The wetherman just cannot decide, now can he. Warm, snow, warmish again melting all that new snow, then snow again. I took these pics on the same day. Midday and evening. Unbelievable!

Oh no, snow again!

Should've known that the "heatwave" was only temporary. Here we got all excited already, but mother nature had a surprise for us. 10cm of new snow!

Doing some planting

Inspired and encouraged by the early spring, we started planting our herb garden last week. We planted som dill, basil, courgette and cucumber seeds. Also, we got some thyme, mint, rosemary and chives in pots and transferred them into bigger pots and placed them all in out mud room, our cold foyer.

Then we got hit by winter again. The pots with seeds are still in the mud room, but the potted plants we needed to take inside. So now our shower room is hosting our herbs until spring comes back. I guess this is just how it always goes in Finland. The dance of prince winter and the spring fairies. We've even got songs about it.

Pussy willows and sunny days

We've had some wonderfully sunny and unseasonably warm days here lately. I can't remember another March, when I would've been out in the yard in a tee-shirt! Ok, it's not more that 8 degrees C in the shade, but the sun is sweet and warm. Night time temperatures still drop below zero, which is totally normal in March. 

We have been cooking outside every day - this might turn out to be a 7-8 month grilling season! unheard of! - and yesterday we built a trampoline on our yard. Today we installed our new garden hose, I washed my car and then we took the dogs to the dog park, where there was a whole lot more snow still on the ground than in our yard (there's only a small patch) and the pussy willows were all out. 

Spring!

I most definitely is spring now! We have started the grilling season. Birds are chirping. Sun is shining brightly, warming up the world. Some trees have got their first buds. Flowers are popping out. Tulips and crocusi and some other stuff is growing in our yard too. So lovely!