A welcome back gift from the garden

It's Mid-march in Utah. It will surely snow again, and again and again. Last year it snowed in June. But, this past week has been as sunny and wonderful as any spring day can be. The soil is workable. The last snow storm has melted nearly completely. The tulips are breaking the surface and my perennials are breaking dormancy. The garden beckons and as tempting as it is to get out there and dive in head long, I know better. I had a failure or two last year, resulting directly from my haste to rush spring along. patience, they say, is a virtue. And what gardener isn't full of virtue? So, I must wait. But we did take advantage of the workable soil. We dug out a new flower bed, divided perennials, transplanted a few plants from last years 'nursery' to this years flower garden, planted cold weather crops: broccoli, brussel sprouts, chinese cabbage, spinach, kale, chard, lettuce etc.; and laid down the compost crop in this year's fallow bed. I started to prune last years dead growth from a few perennials but resisted the temptation to continue further. Last falls cold weather crop bed is bursting with life. I was actually able to make a salad with chinese cabbage and carrots. And that brings me to my point: carrots are an interesting crop. Carrots can be stored under ground through the winter. The colder it gets, the sweeter they are in the spring. So here we are in March, much too early to enjoy mounds of homegrown organic produce on the counter, yet pounds and pounds of enormous sweet carrots are piled on my counter. How delightful! A little gift from the garden, a welcome back gift of sorts.