Today we woke to rain. Yesterday it was dry, and the soils almost dry enough to work. Today… not a chance.
The weather forecasters are talking about the possibility of snow again — likely to the north of us, but dropping far enough below freezing overnight to suggest either snow or solid ice on the roads in the morning. The kiddo wouldn’t mind another late start, but as a teacher I know that it just makes things a lot more challenging!
Now that my toe is mostly healed, and I am over the small virus of the weekend (my first virus since I started working in the schools!), I hope to start getting out in the yard and starting on the tasks to bring the garden back to life.
Step One: clearing the winter debris over the next couple weeks. But not today — raining like this waterlogs the debris and makes it too heavy for me to lift safely.
Step Two: Amend the veggie garden. It will want a little salt, compost, and likely some calcium (the native soil is a silt that benefits from additional calcium as well as organic material).
Step Three: Build a couple cold frames (this is the year!) and plant spuds and garlic outside the frames.
Step Four: Flowering plants: renew soil in planters, remove grass from flower beds, plant new dahlias and the heuchera and succulent from a friend that are ready to set out once we’re past frosts.
Step Five: Move Rosa Rugosa from current location to water-logged bog by the road — more cover for the critters that live down there and it’s too big for its current location.
Step Six: Hardscapes and structures. This year, I want to put the arbors in place, repair the one by the house and create a willow withy fence around part of the veggie garden to supplement the bird-netting “deer fence” that is already there. I would love to start “paving” some of the pathways with gravel or shell, but I think it will have to wait until next year. The money just isn’t there yet.
I haven’t mentioned weeding… that tends to happen in fits and starts as I have a few minutes here and there. My top two locations: the center medallion in the veggie garden where the strawberries grow and the bed under the medlar tree with bulbs and annuals.
I am still trying to decide what types of veggies to grow this year: Lettuces? Kale? Squash? Cucumbers? Peas? Beans? Tomatoes? Parsnips? Turnips? Carrots? We’ll see…