I feel like it’s been windy for weeks on end. The warm days at the beginning of the week, coupled with the aforementioned wind, are drying out the baby plants and seedlings at an alarming rate. I spent hours watering on Tuesday. This is because I have yet to haul out the sprinklers.

It’s better to water heavily than to give just a sip every day. This holds true for watering all summer. A good soaking once a week will cause the roots to go deeper and thus survive droughty conditions.

All winter I complained about lack of writing material. Now, there is so much spring happening I hardly know where to start. Folks have been out sprucing up their yards. Sadly, some of the daffodils have seen better days, but honestly, I don’t recall a spring on the Vineyard with so many fabulous displays. I noticed the lilies-of-the-valley are just about to pop. I have an inordinate amount of them, which multiply every year. They are remarkably hardy. Even thrown upside down into the woods will not stop them. I only say some things from personal experience.

I’m late getting some of the vegetables into the open ground. I have seen trays of cabbages, broccoli and celeriac looking at me accusingly. I suppose it will eventually get done.

One fun thing we’ve been picking boatloads of is asparagus. I planted it from seed a few years ago. After two years, it can be picked daily for a couple weeks. Then as the crop ages, the picking time can increase up to six weeks or so. I also have a patch that is at least 50 years old. The spears are more than an inch around. I planted it when I was only renting the property. I did not expect to buy and stay here. I hoped someone else would plant a patch that I would inherit somewhere else and a new renter would discover and appreciate what I had done. How wonderful can life be at times?

While trying to avoid the traffic on the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road, I went down Skiff avenue. The ground phlox at Abby Burt’s is in full and glorious bloom. I realized that my own did not come back this year. Wonder why?

The large boxes at the entrance to Morrice the Florist are stunning. Her crab apples are blooming. They have lived in those containers for a few seasons. Good job to the designer.

I’ve been noticing honey bees for several weeks but this warm weather has brought out the bumblebees. They seem unusually large this year.

In other insect news, the white cabbage moths are hovering around the wintered-over collards and kales. This advice probably falls under the “do as I say, not as I do” adage. It’s time to cover the cold crops with some sort of netting. Once year, Marie and I experimented with tulle. It worked for about five minutes until it got holes and blew around.

I’ve always been a fan of the Kennedys, so imagine my alarm and disappointment to follow the ideas of Bobby Junior. How he is running the nation’s health is just another example of Trump’s either incompetence or willful destruction of what we have long held dear. I guess making America healthy again is bringing back measles, removing free breakfast and lunch from school children and cutting funding for Meals-on-Wheels for those children’s grandparents.

I see some grave rolling with advocates of social justice and moral values.