February on Nantucket. We have had frozen spray and slushy waves. A couple of dips into the colder temperatures but nothing that even came close to the arctic temperatures the rest of the country was experiencing. It is funny to me, when living on Nantucket, this idea of Groundhog’s Day and trying to figure how much longer we have of Winter. We all know, although sometimes refuse to acknowledge, that Spring on Nantucket will come sometime around the end of June, followed quickly by a brief but glorious Summer.
And that is exactly what we are seeing on Nantucket right now. Sometimes sunny but mostly grey days with stunning sunsets whose colors shatter the heavy greyness. The wind picks up and drops and picks up again right on schedule. We have gotten off lightly so far with the winter winds.
The buds on the white oaks are starting to show some shine and very early signs of bulging, getting ready to burst open sometime soonish although the brown leaves from last year haven’t even been completely dropped or blown off yet. As I observed the oak buds, it struck me, when the landscape is your work and the weather dictates your everything - from wellbeing to income - how much of your world is this constant combination of relishing the season of the moment and looking for signs of hope that the next season is clearly on its way.
I haven’t pulled out the seed catalogs yet and plan to continue the hibernation for a week or two longer. I have given up starting seeds in my house as we really don’t have the space or the right light so inevitably, all my starts are leggy and weak and I usually have some sort of dampening off or wilting off or whatever it is that causes the seedlings to shrivel up and die. The only way to temper my excitement for a new vegetable season is to not read the catalogs. I will be looking forward to growing all the things I can direct sow as well as buying starts off others. My prize last year was the heirloom tomato Pineapple which I bought from Espresso to Go.
To be honest, for the first time in my life I am getting excited about annual flower seeds. I have resisted them for SO long, associating them with extravagant window boxes and excessive demands for water and attention. My tune has changed however as they can actually be quite resilient and can add a pop of color as well as be valuable for the invertebrates and the birds. As my vegetable garden is also the main entrance to our house and seeing as the neighbors cut down all their trees and we are now very exposed, my plan is to sow a border of tall annuals all around the edges creating peace, privacy and food for pollinators.