The Winter that Wasn't

      Hoping I'm not too premature here, I can say as we near the end of January that this has been the easiest winter I've ever experienced in Washington.  When I started seeing pussy willows in bloom a few weeks ago, I kind of discounted it.  Then this week, the Hawthorn trees by the graveyard in Marysville had pink blossoms popping out.  
     Yesterday, the sun came out early, and it felt absolutely balmy in the sun.  The tiny little breeze felt like a Chinook - always one of my favorite things.  So in spite of it being "too early", I began working on my garden.

First job:  Till in the winter rye that I planted in November as a cover crop.  Not sure what I'll plant in this area - we removed about 200 Christmas trees so the soil isn't that great, and there are still a lot of roots and some rocks to remove.

The plants I moved into the greenhouse to winter are all doing fine.

Time to start seeds for tomato, pepper, and other plants that can't go into the garden until all danger of frost is past.  I even planted some lemon seeds to see if I can make a lemon tree for a house plant.  Pinterest says they smell lovely and make a good house plant. :)

The garlic was planted in September, but yesterday I put pea seed along the fence line and spinach and cabbage in the sunny spot along the edge.

If I'm fooled by a winter that will come later, so are the raspberry plants!  They are definitely starting to get leaves.  I definitely prefer the "El Nino" winters!