You might well be, especially since this week you can probably see it again after the winter. While there is still some snow on the ground, gardeners are getting excited about their 2010 gardens, and there's plenty to do right now in preparation for fruit, flowers and vegetables in your garden this summer and fall.
- Take a gardening class, or attend a University of Minnesota Horticulture Day to get tips, advice, or find out how to grow that tricky plant that didn't thrive last year.
- Start planting seeds indoors. Many plants need to be started inside in early spring, and transferred outside once the threat of frost is over. Seeds to sow now include dahlias, hollyhocks, lettuce, and peppers. The University of Minnesota has a handy guide to starting seeds indoors, and a chart of when to plant what.
- Spring clean your garden. Cut back, mulch, feed and trim and get everything ready to look it's best. Here's what to do to get your garden ready for spring now, and when the last hard frost is past.
- Consider a rain garden in your garden design. Rain gardens help keep local waterways clean by collecting and filtering rainwater through the ground before it reaches our lakes and rivers. Metro Blooms has a series of rain garden workshops starting March 16.
- For fanciful inspiration, visit the Macy's and Bachmann's Flower Show, held on the 8th floor of the downtown Minneapolis Macy's store, opening on March 28.
And just in time for summer, Google Maps now has the option to display directions for bikes, as well as by car, walking, and public transport. Google knows where most of Minneapolis and St. Paul's bike lanes and bike routes are for the safest navigation of the Twin Cities by bicycle, as well as avoiding hilly terrain.
To get directions for cycling, either enter your start and finish point into Google as usual, then select "Bicycle" from the drop down menu. Or start from http://maps.google.com/biking.
Once you get bike directions, the map changes to show all the other bike lanes in the Twin Cities. Google is also requesting cyclists' feedback on missing bike lanes, bike friendly and bike unfriendly streets, and any other problems.
This summer's Twin Cities Jazz Festival is held June 17 to June 19, in downtown St. Paul. The festival's organizers are busy booking artist to appear, and just announced that saxophonist Joe Lovano, and guitarist John Scofield and the Piety Street Band are in the festival's lineup.
The Twin Cities Jazz festival has free admission for all three days of music. The festival is in Mears Park, and neighboring bars in the Lowertown district of St. Paul.
It's the first of two free summer music festivals is Mears Park, and one of several free music festivals and music events in the Twin Cities. Here's the best free music festivals and lots more free music events in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
According to Forbes magazine, the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area is tied for fourth place on a nationwide list of cities best weathering the recession. Minneapolis' low unemployment rate, diversified economy, and local companies like Cargill, General Mills and Target. Here's the top five cities on the list,
1st: (tie) Washington DC and Austin, TX
3rd: Dallas, TX
4th: (tie) Minneapolis and Houston, TX
Interestingly, despite the stereotype of Texas' economy being based on oil, it dominates the top five.
