Goodbye Winter

Happy last day of winter/first day of spring!  

Yep, spring officially arrives sometime around 10:00 PM central time tonight, but winter decided it wasn't going out without one last hurrah...so to speak. 

Good job I brought my plants inside last night, as there was a pretty thick layer of frost on top of the garbage can when I took the trash out this morning.  However, by the time I got home, the temps were up into the low 60s, and we're not expecting any freezes any time soon, so back outside into the sunshine they went.  

I'd planned on starting to put my sunflowers out after this cold snap anyway, and to do that, the first thing I had to do was start clearing a few weeds.  

Most of what was in there was ground ivy, and I'd thought for a moment I'd clear it all out -- at least of the flower bed part, but plan that came to a screeching halt when I saw a little honey bee buzzing from flower to flower. 

"I won't take all your food," I said to the little bee and cleared just enough to plant the two biggest sunflower seedlings. 

Now they are safely tucked into the flower bed, and covered with their cloches. 

I have four more cloches, so I may put four more plants out in their little pots and cover them with the cloches until I can get them a space cleared and get them planted.  

Most of the weeds I pulled up got put into the compost, but I decided to begin drying some of the purple deadnettle.  It is a member of the mint family, so it's both edible and medicinal, and I think it'll be beneficial to have some on hand after it dies back for the year.  The downside is I don't really like the taste that much.  It'll be good flavoring for soups and smoothies and such, but it's not something I could sit and eat by itself, like in a salad.  I've also read that brewing it into a tea will help with seasonal allergies, especially if you sweeten it with local honey.    Hmmm, maybe I'll try some here in a bit. 

That was all I did today, because I didn't sleep well at all last night.  It was one of those nights...I was so tired and went to bed early, but couldn't fall asleep for anything.  Last time I looked at the clock, it was after 11:00.   

I've never understood that.  All day yesterday, I was so tired my brain wouldn't even function, but the minute I got into bed, all I did was toss and turn.  As a result, I'm even less functional today.  I think I'll just take a shower and go to bed early again.  

Laters.