March comes in on clumsy feet, kicks the trashcans down the street… Two warm days got things going and tomorrow the rain and chill come back.

Apricot seeds seem to get a better start in direct sun rather than behind a window, so the ones that had started to show signs of life were now outside in pots.  Three had leaves, two, just the beginnings of a tap root.

Five still-dormant ones were inside in their Root Riot plugs to keep a closer eye on because those can dry out fast. I knew I would need more pots and more soil soon.

There was this one out there that had a tiny white stub showing that on the others had turned into a cluster of leaves within a few hours–but not that one. The very tiniest discernible change took two days.

I considered its reluctance to thrive and said a quiet prayer: could You help the ones that would make great fruit to grow and thrive and end up where they’ll do the most good for somebody and the ones that wouldn’t to not encumber the time and water it would take to find out?

Yesterday morning that slow-mo seed was on top of the soil near the edge of the pot. Uprooted. Stabbed. No claw digging around it, no sign of a squirrel.

But at least the seed was still there to let me get a good detective-eye look at it, which was a nice touch.

I wondered how birds clean the dirt off their dinner and considered the fact that some types of apricot seeds are supposed to be sweet.

Today it wasn’t there. Nor was the other one out there that had cracked open and sent out the beginnings of a root but didn’t have leaves yet, nope, picked right out of the Root Riot within the pot to parts unknown. Definitely birds.

A little later a scrub jay flew onto the patio. Crows in blue finery. It was the first time I’ve seen one there in a year, the mockingbirds having bested them last year. It landed on the outside of a window ledge where I’ve never seen one land before because it really didn’t fit, tail and rear end smushed up hard against the wall behind it where it could guard its new territory: looking at me, looking at those three other pots lined up, looking at me. Novel take on a bird feeder ya got there, lady, don’t mind if I do.

Those last three had leaves–but the seedlings were so young that they hadn’t absorbed all the nutrients from the kernels yet, so the split halves were rounded little brown wings flapping and clapping and cheering on the little stalks stretching for the sky and clearly they still looked nicely tasty.

No you don’t. Those are mine. I found a small bird netting tent to fit over two of them and a mesh for the third.

Well, huh. I did say that prayer… Thanks for Darwinning those two for me, Jay!

And now I have two already-prepared large pots waiting for the next ones to wake up. Does that mean I’m done letting myself be told which ones are of future goodness? Hey, there’s more than one way to kill a plant, trust me, I’m good at it. Bumped into one pot last year and knocked it off the table right on its head. Once you snap it below the leaf line it’s done.

And over in that corner, I got my first set of tomato leaves today. Yay! Happy March!

Go grow things, it’s fun!