Spring's-a-coming.......(and summer, too)

It's February.  It's cold.   The April-like days we had last week have been replace by typical February weather. Yes it's cold, but Spring is just weeks away, and here in Tennessee we have been known to go right into hot summer weather after just a few nice spring-like days.  I know spring is coming because the seed catalogs have arrived. The stores have the patio furniture and BBQ grills on display beckoning us to take them home. My tomato seedlings have popped their heads through the the soil in the little pots on my window sill. They are already about 2 inches high and should be just right for planting outside as soon as the weather allows.  Just this morning I noticed a couple of pepper plants had poked above the soil too.   My planting beds are needing a good cleaning, and as soon as the next warm dry days appear, I will tackle that chore.  It's not really a chore.  I enjoy working in the dirt, and the reward is worth it.  There is nothing like the first radish and green onion of spring on a salad of freshly picked greens, or biting into that first ripe tomato that you have watched religiously from the day it was a little yellow bloom popping out from behind the leaves of that pampered plant. The day you pick the first summer squash is not that far off.  Before we know it, there will be grass to mow, weeds to pull and summer breezes to enjoy. Shorts and flip flops will replace sweatshirts and leggings. The crickets will be chirping and the mosquitoes will be swarming. We will relax in the backyard with that glass of sweet tea taking in the sounds of the neighborhood and the smell of freshly mown grass.   Really.  It will be here before we know it.