In with the , out with the gloom

Readers share thoughts on spring rituals and how they welcome the new season

By ANNETTE JOYCE

Ahhhhhhhh, spring – more hours of daylight, gentle, warm breezes, budding trees and flowers popping up everywhere, all welcome signs of new life after a long, barren winter. It’s also the time of year when people are drawn to such activities as gardening, sprucing up the landscape, freshening up the house or just hanging around outside and soaking up the sunshine.

We recently talked to several of our readers to find out how they usher in the spring season, and here’s what they had to say…

Bobbie Gardner said she and her husband, Jay, pick up the pace when spring rolls around. The Stokesdale couple maintains a large vegetable and fruit garden, and it takes a lot of work just to get it started in the spring.

A key to a bountiful garden, Bobbie noted, is good soil preparation.

“We begin preparing the soil early, mixing in decomposed manure, wood ash and eggshells,” she said.

Since the pandemic, the Gardners have focused on being more selfsufficient, so it’s not surprising their soil amendments are organic rather than store-bought.

“We repurpose a great deal,” Bobbie said. “We use a neighbor’s stall debris, clean out our chicken house and grind up eggshells for calcium.”

Each year the couple decides which plants have to go, which ones stay and which new varieties to add.

“Planning is a must, and we decide what and where we are going to be putting more berries or expanding the vegetable garden,” Bobbie said. “This year we are planting native wildflowers and grasses.”

Along with the garden, the Gardner farm features a number of honeybee hives.

“We are beekeepers and have numerous plantings geared toward the wildlife and our bees,” Bobbie said. “I plant hundreds of early-blooming plants and this year we are about three weeks ahead due to the warm weather.”

Bobbie admits she dislikes housework, so spring cleaning isn’t high on her to-do list. Still, she said “airing the house out and cleaning the windows is a priority in the early spring.”

While she’s not into massive cleaning sprees, she does like to change things up and said the interior and exterior of her house, barn and hen house all reflect the current season.

Even so, Smith said she actually does a couple of things in response to the change in seasons.

“I switch out my fall/winter clothes for spring/summer ones and sit outside on the deck more with our dog to get a little tan on my legs so I don’t scare people when I start wearing shorts,” she said.

While Smith said she’s not big into changing home décor based on the season, she enjoys making her grandkids smile, so she put out her Easter decorations a few weeks ahead of schedule this year. She also likes the idea of focusing on the real reason for the Easter season.

“I can celebrate an empty tomb every day,” she said. “‘He is not here; he has risen!’ – Luke 24:6.”

Ashley Callendar of Oak Ridge, the mother of a second grader and a fourth grader, spends most of her time involved in their activities – to the point that she said she barely notices the change in seasons. Even though she does little to prepare for spring, she enjoys the new life it brings and hopes to one day be able to tend a garden of her own.

As an afterthought, Callendar did remember one thing she consistently does each spring.

“I make sure I start my kids’ allergy medicines!” she laughed.

Stokesdale resident Becky Wray relishes the fruits and vegetables that come from her garden, and knows good results require a lot of upfront labor.

One of the most unpleasant spring tasks for Wray and her husband, Jim, is the removal of spiky sweetgum balls that cover their garden space and part of their yard.

“The dreaded gum ball rake-up has to be done before we can do anything else,” Wray said.

“Since my birthday is the last day of winter, the only thing I really do to get ready for spring is get older,” joked Dina Smith, a northwest Greensboro resident.

Each spring, the couple tries to plant something new in their garden. Last year it was Swiss chard, but that wasn’t a big family hit and it will be replaced by okra this season; Wray said she looks forward to trying her hand at continued on page 28