...not only in the ground, but the first little arugulas (arugulae?) are up. Probably you could plant them on a block of ice and and they would still sprout in a week.
It worked last year, so this year again I planted spinach, arugula and lettuce as soon as the February sun broke through. It's been freezing pretty much every night since, but they don't seem to care. Today I upped the ante and planted some garlic, shallots, and leeks (cloves, clove, seed). I'm hoping that the sandy, mostly storebought soil in my alley planter will give me the garlic success I've always aspired to and never achieved. The box is bristling with pointy sticks to counter the alley cats' natural assumption that I have created this fabulous giant litterbox for their personal convenience. It looks like a bed of nails.
I'm still taking inventory of winter damage. Most of the perennials seem to be battered but not dead, though I probably lost a little box honeysuckle I was hoping would provide some winter green outside the living room window. Maybe it will revive. Raspberries and artichokes look fine
