Spring finally came!

All those horrible months of snow and cold are now a memory, while we prepare what we hope will be the greatest garden ever.

Right now, the garlic plants are about a foot tall in two of our garden beds. In another six weeks or so, it will be time to gather these pungent bulbs and hang them for a few weeks to dry before storing them.

The rhubarb is ready to cut and bake into pies, puddings and cakes. I’ve already combined about a pound of rhubarb with a quart of frozen raspberries from last year to make a uniquely flavored pie that offers both sweetness and tartness.

But most of all right now, both the wild and cultivated flowers are presenting huge patches of bright pink, yellow and lilac flowers. The old lilac bush is having a great year. It is covered with clusters about ready to open, and their aroma is one of the best we can inhale. The white lilacs are a little bit behind, but they, too, are loaded with clusters just waiting to open.

The wild violets are popping up everywhere on the lawn and at the edge of the fields, proving that nature really has a way with flowers. The crocuses have passed, but the daffodils and tulips are still blossoming. The wild, orange day lilies are almost ready to bloom and the dandelions are everywhere.

I once pulled all these fragrant, yellow dandelion plants, believing the lawn should not provide a home for them. But I’ve since learned that a multitude of butterflies sip the sweet nectar. I don’t pull up the milkweed, either. If a monarch butterfly happens to fly into the neighborhood, I want those pink, pleasant-smelling milkweed pods and flowers ready to provide a lunch for them.

Everywhere, it seems, flowers are proving that they, too, are so glad that our long, cold, snowy winter has passed.

I found a few pungent, purple trilliums (we called them stinking Benjamins when I was a child) out behind the goose pen. That’s a first.

The flat leaves of the cultivated irises have sprung up everywhere we planted them a few years ago, and the pink and very fragrant apple blossoms are ready to do their thing.

The azalea bushes are at their peak, flaunting an entire six feet of dark pink blooms, and soon their larger cousins, the rhododendrons, will display their equally beautiful blossoms. Pansies love the cold, so as soon as the snow melted, a few reseeded themselves and are now proudly displaying their purple and yellow flowers.

For flower appreciaters, this is a peak season, although as the spring and summer progresses, other blooms will appear, whether they are wild daisies and buttercups, or cultivated annuals, perennials and small and large multicolored sunflowers.

Meanwhile, the vegetable garden is beginning to provide greens, asparagus and, soon, spinach.

Most of the cold-resistant vegetables, such as carrots, turnips, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, radishes and broccoli, have been planted, and by Memorial Day I believe the rest of my seedlings and seeds will be in the ground.

Oh how I love this time of year, despite the black flies and the sometimes hot, sticky weather.

Here are a few things that should be done within the next couple of weeks:

* Deadhead the daffodils and tulips, but let the leaves remain until they are brown and dried.

* If vegetable seedlings haven’t yet been hardened off, be sure to do so. Bring the seedling flats out of the house and onto the porch during the day, then bring them back in at night. Do this for at least a week, so they will be ready to plant in the soil.

* Plant potatoes now, whether in hills or under layers of straw; delicious Red Norlands will be ready for eating by mid-July.

* Pick some tender dandelion greens, clean well, then boil for a few minutes. Serve with vinegar and oil, salt and pepper.

* Begin planting annual flower seedlings next to the now-dying daffodils so the flower garden will have a continuous floral display.

* Pick asparagus as they are ready, and keep a close watch out for asparagus beetles.

* Set up or continue to add household vegetable scraps to a compost bin.

* As tomatoes are set in the ground or into a garden bed, mulch with newspapers, then hay, so that moisture will be conserved and weeds kept down. Also, consider ringing the base of each tomato plant with small sections of paper towel or toilet paper cardboard; this prevents cut worms from destroying the plant.

* If perennial flowers are wanted, plant dahlias, gladiola or other such blooms.

* After planting, make a definite schedule with yourself to get into the garden every day so the weeds and grass can be kept down and won’t be overwhelming.

And most of all, enjoy the planting. Whatever grows and produces food for your table, you will know exactly where it came from and what was used to grow it. Local food doesn’t get anymore local.

Eileen M. Adams has been gardening and preserving the results for decades. And although this is something she does every year, it is not routine. Every year is different, and every year the magical Earth provides successes, challenges and a sense of living harmoniously with the Earth. She may be reached at [email protected]