Well, you know that I do, but I have been trying really, really hard to restrain myself.....successfully, so far.

I do have flats and flats of veggies (esp. tomatoes and peppers), herbs and annual flowers on the screened-in back porch--all started from seed inside under lights, and now hardening off in a somewhat sheltered location. Some stuff that I winter-sowed in flats on the front porch is sprouting, too.

On the indoor light shelves, I have just started some warm-season plants like zinnias and cassia alata, among others, that will go outside once the temperatures are a little warmer.

So far, nothing is in the ground, except cool-season stuff like onions, potatoes, shallots, garlic, rhubarb, etc. And I do have 8 determinate tomato plants in containers that I can carry inside when cold weather threatens. One of those, a Better Bush, has a tomato about the size of a large grape.

Yesterday, I really, really wanted to put some tomato and herb plants into the ground, but I know we are expecting near-freezing temps later in the week, so I didn't do it.

I did dig up some small volunteer herb seedlings, mostly chives and chamomile, that sprouted in the garden pathways and moved them into some of the raised garden beds as border or edging type plants. And, I kept eyeing a semi-shady patch of ground between the veggie garden and the pecan trees/fruit trees, and thought to myself that I ought to till it up and plant some herbs and flowers there. I didn't do it though....trying not to create more bare ground than I can fill with plants!

Last year I planted early, and then I had to really, really go all out to protect them from the late freeze that came when the plants had been in the ground for almost six weeks. I don't want to go through that again this year! So, hopefully the rain we're supposed to get the next couple of days will make it too muddy for me to plant anything, 'cause I'm just chomping at the bit.

By all the laws of averages, and the Mesonet statistics for our county, and from the records I keep of our last frost dates each year, I KNOW that we will have another freeze or two here in Love County. Thus, I have to distract myself with weeding and pruning and all that kind of stuff. Eventually it actually will be warm enough to plant, and then I will be busy planting all these plants I've started.

We were down in Dallas today, and their average last frost date is around March 18th-21st, so a lot of people were tilling and planting and having fun. I wish we could do the same RIGHT NOW, but guess I will wait a little longer.

Spring fever is a terrible thing to suffer from, is it not?