Nature Note:Reworking Gardens

For the past ten days,we have had about one minute of sunshine.This has to be affecting us in hidden ways.Jokes about it help,but don't stop the slowing down that results from prolonged overcast.Growers are pained by the failure of seed to germinate in the cooler than normal conditions,although the potted plants are well.It may be necessary to reseed if their seed rotted in the soggy earth, or was even washed away.Weeds have been proliferating in gardens,which means the extra work of dealing with them,when you had just done so before the endless rain began.By Sunday,the sun will have returned for consecutive days of shining.

Nature Note:Soggy Snow

What could have been a pleasant snow turned into a heavy,wet one as a wedge of warm air sliced into the cold,causing freezing rain and plain rain.Nonetheless,the first northern cardinal song was heard yesterday,and house finches were singing this morning,which is one of the first reminders of spring.It can't be called a sign of spring,as that season is two months off,but the birdsong is a presaging of it.Certainly the days are noticeably longer and the tree buds are a little bigger then they were a month ago.