Welcome to Flogging Iowa: It's a Spring Thing

Yowza it's been awhile....pardon the delay, loyal readers (if there are any left to witness the thaw). Plenty of action in Iowa City lately, once the snow disappeared and the grass came back and the trees started blooming and the birds started singing - it's a magical, muddy time of year. And we've been busy mowing, tilling and planting The Garden! It's about 6 weeks in now, and there's stuff out there that is actually recognizable as food! It's so exciting to go out and see plants that look just like the picture on the seed packet. Anyway, to catch this flog up to speed, here's a montage of the springy things that I've been staring at lately - and appreciating, as a former coastal desert dweller.

From my rides and walks around my fair city in bloom:

The bulb-ous blooms are mostly dead now, but it was shocking how plentiful and colorful they were in March and April

Is that grass green or what??

And now...out to the garden in Bison Town, USA (Solon, IA, about 20 mins from our house and land we've borrowed from a bison farm)

These are our most successful crop (thus far) - garlics we planted back in the Fall, 30 in all! Mmmm stinky

I dug these two gorgeous beds up myself last weekend...and now they are filled with Spinach, Arugula, Lettuce, Carrot, Broccoli, Romanesco, and Broccoli Raab. Hopefully our early start will mean early and happy leafy greens before it gets too hot.