Spring marches on

Four deer come into the field west of our house to feed at dusk.  This was taken with a long telephoto that compresses distance.  The barn and vehicle are much farther away than they appear.   We see deer frequently on our place  Just before taking this picture, a couple of deer were in the front yard and ran into the woods when I came out of the house.

The garden in the early evening, with the full moon rising behind.  The plums are still showing their white blossoms and hte peaches are just starting to bloom.

I planted some tulips in a corner of the garden.  Tulips planted outside the fence were being eaten by deer.  Note the bug in the flower -- I thought when I took this that it might be one of my honey bees but it came out of the flower afterward and I saw it was some other kind of bee -- not a honey bee.

My small garden tulip bed looking west.

The first asparagus sprout of the Spring.  This is the third year for my asparagus so I plan to harvest some this year.

My rhubarb has seemed to have a hard time getting established.  I had planted three plants and only two survive, but after they both wilted and seemed to dry up early last summer in the drought, I really didn't expect to see them at all this year.  This plant actually looks fairly vigorous this year so I fertilized it generously and hope it will take off.

The other rhubarb plant is also putting out several leaves.  I gave it a good dose of fertilizer too and we will hope for the best.

My grapes are budding and getting ready to take off too.  I may be able to actually get some grapes off of some of my vines this year, particularly the Concord grapes that seem to be the most vigorous.  I do need to do more to keep the weeds down at their base, which I think is too much competition for the smaller vines.  I have 90 grape vines total, growing three rows each of Concord, Norton, Marechal Foch and Marquette.  I hope to use these to make my own wines when they become established.