“One sort of optional thing you might do is to realise there are six seasons instead of four. The poetry of four seasons is all wrong for this part of the planet, and this may explain why we are so depressed so much of the time.
I mean, Spring doesn’t feel like Spring a lot of the time, and November is all wrong for Fall and so on. Here is the truth about the seasons: Spring is May and June!
What could be springier than May and June? Summer is July and August. Really hot, right?
Autumn is September and October. See the pumpkins? Smell those burning leaves.
Next comes the season called “Locking.” That is when Nature shuts everything down. November and December aren’t Winter. They’re Locking.
Next comes Winter, January and February. Boy! Are they ever cold! What comes next? Not Spring. Unlocking comes next. What else could April be?”
If this is not nice, what is? Advice for the young. Kurt Vonnegut, 2013
It’s March and I am totally feeling this.
Yesterday it rained heavily but I had to be in the gardens. I didn’t have to be. But I had to be. I really felt a need to be in the rain and working. I’m unlocking.
The day dried up; this morning was utterly glorious. Coats off, warm breeze, sun on my face morning. Then, clouds rolled in. Woah it felt cold. I walked into the house where it felt reassuringly warm again.
I love this quote from American writer Kurt Vonnegut; this idea. Now, I fully subscribe to it. I am almost thinking of changing the titles of my handbooks to align with Vonnegut’s Seasons.
I do believe, now in March, we are unlocking.
It isn’t Spring.
There is nothing ‘springy’ about the weather. The year feels as if is spluttering back into movement like an old petrol mower, started again after months the shed.
Winter to me is a period of deep rest, reflection and mediation. That needs unlocking not ‘springing’. The nights are still very cool yet in the day, the sun is climbing in the sky.
It is light here at 6.30am. I can feel my energy returning.
Still bright at 5.30pm. A palpable sense of oppotunity and optimism.
I am beginning two months of bed edging, weeding and preparing now in the gardens. Clearing and redefining beds. Planting out. Sowing green manures. Lifting, dividing and relocating perennials. Planting trees.
This is a period of action before rapid growth.
Seasons, rhythm and cycles are very important to me. I never did quite feel aligned to just four.
Does ‘unlocking’ describe March and April to you well? Coming out of the winter, blinking in the bright light.
By April, soils will feel warm to the hand. Trees will bud but it isn’t until May until they truly ‘spring’.
The next two months are some of the busiest of the growing year. I am unlocking into action.
Hit the like button. It’s just there. Go on. It helps me no end. And how about a comment too…
Yes, I can definitely see the seasons as being six instead of four. It warms up here or there but then it gets cold again, and the garden's just not ready.
I love seeing the little perennials popping up. We're not there yet here, but my mom lives in the Southern US and is sending me photos of plants coming up so early!
This is such a great concept, Anna. Thank you for sharing that Vonnegut quote! Unlocking really captures the feeling right about now. There’s something so rewarding about those first garden jobs we’re all in the midst of now!