Waiting

January. The dead of winter. In our part of the world, this mostly means frost in the morning, gentle sun and waiting. The land waits for spring. The birds wait for spring. And so do we.

This is the new patch Cris and the cultivator cleared for this year’s tomatoes, potatoes, and melons. It will be a while yet before it starts looking as it should.

Seeds need to be turned into seedlings, seedlings need to be hardened and then, and only then will they be transferred to their permanent home. The tomatoes, that is. Potatoes, and melon and watermelon seeds we put directly into the soil when it gets warm enough.

Waiting is the hardest part and not everyone has the patience. The hyacinth bush lacks patience and it’s a sturdy little thing, so it’s all locked and ready to start sprouting.

Roses don’t fear the cold, either. Give them a bit of sun and they’re ready to go, come what may, including frost. They can bear the frost.

Not much to look at, right now, but by April these stalks will be green and leafy, and preparing to start flowering. Especially if we don’t forget to feed them some fertiliser and banana peels. And keep them trimmed and pretty.

Some plants get confused. If November and December turn out warmer than usual, they think it’s March and show up all green and ready to do what they do best: grow.

This is what happened to the fresias we planted three years ago. Their first winter was warm and they started growing. The January frost killed the leaves but not the plants. So now we have fresias popping up in January instead of spring. And this time, they’re surviving the frost.

We’re not sure they’ll make it to flowering but that’s all right. They’ll sprout again in the autumn. Confused the fresias may be, but giving up they are not.

Fresias may be confused but the rosemary bush is a complete weirdo. There have been subzero temperatures during the night for several weeks now — and sme subzero temperatures during the day, too.

What does the bush do? Why, it starts budding. Bees and flies, and wasps are still asleep but the rosemary bush does not care. It will flower, pollinators or no pollinators.

It’s waiting time but not everyone’s ready to wait. We can relate with the impatients. Waiting for the start of growing season is sweet torture. There is a lot of anticipation, of picturing the sprouting, the flowering, and the fruit-forming, and the culmination of it all — harvest time.

There is the tingly excitement about the pests this season will grace us with and the itching to try all the new — and completely green — pesticides we learned about since the end of last season. There’s the compost heap to put into use and the seedling pots to prepare. But not yet. Not until it’s warm enough. Waiting is sweet torture, but it makes what follows so much better.