After all, the year does not really begin or end. Time and a calendar are boundaries set up by those people who need beginnings and endings, boundaries and borders, to make their lives seem neat and tidy, started and finished, intended and accomplished.
To an Ohio gardener, life is a cycle. December is a rest, not an ending. January and February are a respite (for the garden as well as the gardener), not a beginning. The time when any gardening done is done indoors or truly indoors (in the gardener's mind!) is an important time, too. Planning, dreaming, sorting out the "I wish I could"s from the "I believe I can"s-- these parts of the year are as important as the actual digging, planting, harvesting parts.It's a time for thinking, planning for the next seasons. And a time for looking forward to the results of efforts we've already made (planting perennials and bulbs, receiving seed orders.) I hope that the anticipation of snowdrops and the memories of daffodils sustain you throughout this snowy month. The earth will reawaken. The sun will shine on your back as you dig in the dirt.
It's coming. Can't you feel it?
