Summer, er I mean Spring Frenzy

Yes it is officially Spring. Last year we had snow March 21, tomorrow is expected to be in the 70's!
I'm using the great weather to do a frenzy of work in the garden  -- I'm "seizing the day and throttling it" as Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) used to say, with accompanying picture of him covered in dirt and blood.
Here's some pics of what I've done-- I'm too tired to write much.
I spray painted my garden tower blue.   I will grow only beans on it this year-- the morning glories took over last year, ans I vowed not to make the mistake of planting them with beans again.

I also brought home truckloads of mulch and compost. A tarp under the load is my secret for easy cleanup.  The mulch went mostly on paths in the garden, the compost topped off the new asparagus bed, which is now ready for the mail order asparagus crowns.... due here any day. 

And I fenced off  my older 16 ft bed, which made Sol sad, because he liked to lie on it. Then I put in a pop up fabric covered tunnel and planted kale, bok choy and purple sprouting broccoli under it. Take that, you cabbage moths.

I also manured beds, cut back perennials, weeded, and even cut some grass ( I can't believe I had to cut grass in March).  Now it's time to relax, so this post is done.

The Sound of Spring

Listen to this for the sound of frogs-- we call them 'spring peepers', but it is actually several species- calling from the pond across the road from my house.  

Yeah Spring! Spinach and garlic and chives and rosemary and chard, oh my.

So last week we had snow, but it did not last long.  Here's a pic I took before I left for work.

 By the time I got home it was melted.
Meanwhile, I planted spinach in the  coldframe on 2/26, and it sprouted on 3/5.

The garlic is sprouting nicely.

And the chives I started from seeds last year are now good clumps.

One patch of swiss chard overwintered.

And I even had one of two rosemary plants survive.

Meanwhile, I'm starting seeds inside-- more on that next post.

Digging towards spring

Yes, I'm ready to start gardening! The weather was warm enough last week to start turning over the soil in the new bed along the fence, and to begin to expand the edges of the shrub and perennial bed off the right side of the stone patio.  I plan to plant winter squash in the couple of feet of new curve beyond the arching cotoneaster. I 'm looking forward to vines wandering among the flowers.
The fence bed needs to be especially well dug because it is going to be planted with asparagus, a perennial crop. I was worried that it would be full of rock and roots (this is New England!), but  I only found a few, including this one I dispatched with my saw. Tree roots lack the flexible fibers of stems, and break easily, so the best technique for most smaller roots is just to snap them of with a sharp upward pull.

I also dug a hole and planted a ten foot high walnut branch ( a hurricane remnant) in the bed made from trex decking, then anchored it further by tying it to a metal post I pounded in next to it.  Walnut is a hard wood, and this pole for beans or morning glories (but not both together, because the morning glories will win)  should last several years.







I worked on the shape of the flower bed curves for quite a while, with Sol supervising.

Here's the curve at the end of the day. It was getting cold and very windy. I will look at the shape for a couple of weeks before I dig up the rest of the grass.  Although my raised beds are efficient and geometric,  I enjoy the whimsy and freedom of curves in the rest of the garden, and the art of getting them right for my eye.

Under construction-- A cold frame and a cedar raised bed

The weather is still mild.  I built a frame out of an old 12" plank and a piece of 6" cedar between two existing raised beds, laid a salvaged vinyl-coated window over it and made a coldframe.  I'm going to mix some manure into the soil and start spinach under it on March 1.

The gap on the right will keep it from overheating, and I can lay an old towel over it on cold nights.
I also learned that cedar splits easily, and so used coated deck screws, gently driven, to build my next project, a 16' by 4' by 12" cedar bed strengthened by 12" high  chunks of 4 by 4 pressure treated lumber.

It was almost dark by the time I attached the lower tier of cedar, which is the most precise part of the
job.  I'll finish the top soon, and then put sand under the 4 by 4's and level it before filling it with compost and topsoil.  This year I'm going to plant  this new bed  with tomatoes or potatoes, and next year I'll extend the fence to enclose it so I can grow the tastier crops (to rabbits, I mean)  like lettuce and peas.
I used three extension cords to get my old corded drill to the spot, but it did the job. Why replace it? It still works fine, even if cordless drills are all the rage-- god, I sound like a crotchety old lady!   -"Those young folks with their fancy drills"- but I'm just trying to spend mindfully.
Here are all the tools I needed: The screws even came with a drill bit.

Fun with a Bastard File

No, I'm not swearing! I finally bought some files to sharpen my tools, and the roughest one is a 'bastard' file.
I used it to sharpen the edges of my hedge trimmers and loppers, and it worked.  Just a few passes with the file over the edge made them cut much more cleanly, with less force.

I went to town on my bed of giant Miscanthus grasses, and gave them all haircuts:

Then I spread the resulting straw on the garden paths.

It was a good afternoon's work.  The only question is, why did I take so long to buy a file and sharpen my tools ?  I've read about the process many times over the years, but never before tried to sharpen my tools.  I suspect I  thought it would be like sharpening kitchen knives, which I've never been very good at,  despite many attempts.  But sharpening my shears was different-- even a rough edge made a big difference.  It must be because the scissor action doesn't need as precise an edge.   It's good to learn something new in my old age.

And as a bonus, I found several praying mantis egg cases in the straw, which I  stuck into beds around the yard.  Egg cases laid close together don't result in many adults, because they eat each other.   Spread out across the yard, perhaps more will live to do good eating bad bugs!

Tidying and planning

A warm day in January, especially after a run of sharp cold, seems like midsummer.  I was out in the garden in the afternoon, acting on some plans I'd been fomenting during the cold snap.  

First I laid some scraps of wood on the ground by the buddleia next to the path.  I'm using them to mark the edge of an expansion of the bed I'm planning this spring.  Here's a picture:

This new edge will create a spot for a patch of pepper plants.  I have a tough time with rotation of members of the nightshade family (tomatoes, peppers, potatoes) because I grow so many of them. That's why most new beds get planted with one of the three the first year.  I'll also put peppers and tomatoes in the new bed by the fence, a spot that now gets plenty of sun since the hurricane knocked down an overhanging tree. I t's full of leaves right now, and is Sol's favorite hangout on sunny winter days.

And I moved the  eight foot by four foot recycled plastic railroad tie bed from next to the grapes (they need more room) to alongside the old sixteen by four foot bed, paired up with the trex bed (just in the frame on the right).  I like having three beds made of different materials next to each so I can compare their durability. 

All three of these new beds need soil. I plan on bringing in a couple of pickups of compost from a local nursery and combining it with the horse manure that's aging under a tarp in the front garden.  I ordered blue potatoes this winter, and they'll go in the moved railroad tie bed.  

Finally, I cut back the raspberries. They'll need some manure too.... maybe on the next warm day I should visit the horse farm.