Today was the first day that I determined the ground was drained enough that I could walk outside without sinking into the lawn.  Ah, what a joy to just walk around the yard!  I smiled at the crocuses popping up in various places, and noted all the little bluebells that are poking up as well.

But then I walked past my little display of pots out back and just had to stick a shovel in one.  Sure enough- completely thawed out, a touch warm from the sun, and just begging for something to be put in it.  So I threw caution to the wind and went in the house to grab one of my parsley starts.  I happen to have three of these little pots, so if this one doesn’t make it, I have two more.  Over the last few days, though, this particular parsley plant has been looking very sad, like it wants more room, so room it has.  Parsley is a very hardy plant, so there is a chance it will do okay.  I realize it would have been better with a bit of hardening off, but like I said, I have back-ups.

And then I had to play in the mud.  I just had to! I scraped some remaining snow off the dirt, and found a few spots where the ground underneath was not still full of frost- there were a few of those spots too.  I found some mud, really.  Which was all I needed to find.  So I worked the mud a little bit, because there was also a layer of leaves, so I wanted to distribute the leaves into the mud a little better.

And then I made nine little rows and planted nine little rows of peas.  Shelling peas, to be specific.   For years, I’ve wanted to get peas into the ground “when the ground can first be worked” as I’ve read about over and over.  I finally did it!  My shelling peas are to the left of this small patch of scallions leftover from fall. (I’m looking forward to those scallions perking up too!)

To the right of the scallions is another patch of mud that I thought was still too wet.  I’ll check it out tomorrow, and if all goes well, either some Snow Peas or some Sugar Snaps will be going in that spot.

I also liberated my Lemon Thyme plant from the snow as well, and it looks like he survived the winter okay.

Other than some serious thunderstorm watches/warnings for the weekend, it looks like spring really and truly is here to stay.