Signs of spring are everywhere. The liquid trill of bluebird song fills the air, and John saw a female darting in and out of the nesting box near the vegetable garden. The garlic plants are doubled in size from two weeks ago. I planted peas, lettuce, radishes, spinach and chard this week. I also planted pansies in the window boxes and around the sidewalk near the house. The daffodils and crocus are blooming everywhere!
John’s been putting compost onto the lawn and reseeding. Yesterday he tackled the orchard and added compost around all of the trees. He thinks he might be too late to spray dormant oil…I’m not so sure. If I’m lucky, he’ll do that today. The peach tree we bought that’s mature enough to bear fruit this year already looks like it’s going to bud. The rest are still too immature to bear fruit, but I’m hoping that in about two years we might see a peach or plum or two.
In the flower garden, all of the perennials have returned. I trimmed back the nepeta which threatened to take over the pathways. The salvia got a haircut too. I was supposed to do some serious labor, like moving compost into the vegetable gardens on Wednesday, but instead I got side tracked and built a support out of pine branches for my Blaze climbing rose. Right now it doesn’t look like much or I’d snap a picture or two, but once leaves and flowers appear I’ll be sure to take a picture for you.
I snagged two miniature roses on the discount rack at Lowe’s for $2 each. I have no idea what color they are, but I added them to the little rose garden around the Blaze. I love my roses. They are like pets. They require a lot of care, especially to grow them organically, but I enjoy it a lot.
The crocus are blooming in the orchard. We go out every day and look for the daffodils; we planted over 500 bulbs out there, but they seem to be coming up at all times, adding dots rather than bursts of color as we’d hoped.
Today it’s work inside for me to finish some client projects, but I’m sneaking out later today to do more tidying up. And tomorrow? We’re planting more shrubs and butterfly-attracting perennials around the front of the house. Pierre’s going to love that. The salvia and azaleas are his favorite “You can’t see me” hiding spots. We can see him, of course. But he enjoys crouching wild-eyed behind the shrubs and peering out like a jungle cat. In your dreams, fat cat….
Happy spring!
