Last Tuesday’s wind made it difficult to be a good sport. It blew plant pots all over the place, tore plastic off the cold frame and made being outside downright unpleasant.

The good news, however, is spring has definitely sprung. Some of the large ornamental trees are in full bloom, daffodils are at their peak and the early planted greens are ready to eat.

There is an impressive star magnolia on the corner of Pease’s Point Way and Cook street in Edgartown. The sign on the rock says it was the home of a Reverend Jos. Thaxter back in the day.

The ride from Edgartown to Vineyard Haven is fabulous. In front of Jardin Mahoney is a nice choice of spring trees.

I saw a turkey on Skiff avenue jumping up to eat flowers from a forsythia. Who knew they liked them?

Another observation this week was the unwelcome sighting of a couple of white cabbage moths. Just in time for my brand-new plantings of early Jersey Wakefield cabbage and Lacinato kale.

I used up the last of my stored potatoes. I was pleased to get this far into April with them. Granted, they were a bit long in the tooth as they say — but still fine as homefries.

On the job sites we are cleaning up winter debris and edging the beds. FYI: use a string for a nice clean edge. Reuben uses two screwdrivers with string between them and a sharp spade. I’m not a fan of the rounded edger used by many, especially when it is kicked to remove the sod. It never looks tidy and I dislike the moat that is left behind.

I lime the perennial beds before applying compost or mulch. It’s inexpensive and a huge benefit to the plants, especially here with our acidic soil.

The Virginia bluebells are blooming. They spread themselves around quite a bit but don’t bother other plants. I never see them for sale in catalogs or at the nurseries. I wonder why...they are very nice.

The purple dead nettle is blooming like crazy and bees love it. I should weed some of it out of the vegetable beds but, honestly, bees would go after me. Supposedly it is edible but I confess: I’ll wait for the Holocaust since I have plenty of other food and it’s too fuzzy for my liking.

If you are in Vineyard Haven, it’s worth a trip on West Spring street. Halfway between the big bend and the Hebrew cemetery there is a house with a stone wall covered in a stunning show of the early ground phlox. They do not last long so get over there soon. Also blooming in the same way now are the perennial candy tuft (iberis sempervirens). Keep an eye out for it in the fall sale section of nurseries as late summer is the best time to plant. You will be rewarded in the following spring.

The latest Ron DeSantis trick is the banning of certain math textbooks as they might have some critical race theory themes. Once again, I am completely baffled.

Between that and the Marge Greene claim that Democrats are pedophiles, I honestly think we have lost our collective minds.

The people hovering in burnt-out building basements in Ukraine wish they had such problems. They are fighting to the death to save their democracy and we cannot wear a piece of cloth on our stupid faces to protect our fellow citizens.