Chives

One of my favorite early signs of spring is when the chives come up. Chives are a perennial herb in the onion family. They start popping up in March and flower in May.

I like to snip chives over salads. But, they are also used in soups and savory pancakes. I've also made chive butter, which is delicious.

Once you grow chives they will expand every year. If you want more chives, it is easy to divide them and make lots more chive plants. Chives also produce fresh, tender leaves from March until a hard frost, up to eight months.

Garlic

Last year I posted this picture of garlic shoots on April 6th. This year, it's two weeks earlier and garlic shoots are four times as big! Of course that due to unusually mild winter and warm spring in Rhode Island. In fact, we had a record breaking 80 degree day last week and several days in the 70s.

This weekend is a different story. Temps struggled to get into the 50s today. Not that I'm complaining. Those warm days are great to get plants started early, but I prefer cool days for the jobs I was working on this weekend.

Moving cinder blocks, weeding beds, putting down mulch; these are not jobs I want to do when it is 80 degrees outside.

Japanese Fantail Pussy Willow

Last year, I posted about moving what we thought was a clumping bamboo and how it turned out to be a Japanese Fantail Pussy Willow. That plant bloomed the first week of April in 2011. This year it is blooming three weeks earlier. To read last year's post, click here.

Early blooms

It looks like we are skipping spring and going straight to summer. The first so called day of spring was 75 degrees. Tomorrow it will be in the 80s! Because of the warm February and March this year, everything is coming up early.

Crocus are always the first bulbs to bloom. These crocus have been blooming for almost three weeks. Last year, the mini daffodils bloomed the first week in April, three weeks later than this year.

Just like 2010, I think we're going to have an early year for planting and harvesting crops. That means keeping an eye on the weather to make sure we don't get a surprise frost and getting going on the load of outdoor projects that need to be done.