In the Small Hours of Spring

The snow has been replaced by mud. The landscape is painted in unfortunate hues of brown. Sure enough, it is spring, but it will still be weeks until it looks that way. Soon, however, things will be different. Potential will burst into actuality; the earth will shed its beggar's rags for the trappings of royalty. But for now I must wait.
(This pile of dirt will soon be our pumpkin patch. Last year I tried growing pumpkins but the area I chose was simply too shady. I'm hoping for better luck this year, and many more, much larger pumpkins!)(My raised bed garden that Justin and I built last year. The trappings of last summer's garden remains, but soon will be torn out and prepared for a new crop. I have much fine tuning to do when it comes to vegetable variety selection for my next planting.)(The American Arborvitae trees I planted last spring. I still have my doubts if I chose the right variety for the amount of sun they get during the growing season, but the trees seemed to do well enough last year. These are intended as a privacy hedge along the back and sides of my property, so I'm curious as to how much they'll fill in this season.)(One of my Anne golden raspberry bushes. Flanked by red raspberries and blackberries as well, these produced a little fruit during their first growing season, but I'm hoping for a large crop this year. I need to construct a trellis to hold the vines in place, for they will almost certainly be too heavy to support themselves.)
(Proof it actually is spring! The rhubarb is usually the first sign of life, and sure enough here it is. Hopefully next will be the asparagus. Mmmm...asparagus.)