Spring Greening

Today is the day DH has been Dreading...the first lawn mowing day of the season! Yep, it's time to change the blade on our riding lawnmower, and get out there and cut the thatch that is currently masquerading as our lawn. In addition, there are noxious weeds attempting to grow in certain areas, including (but not limited to) thistles and stinging nettles, which are verboten on our property with the young'uns running about. Therefore, after lawn mowing is completed, DH is charged with Round-Up duty for the seedling nettles, and I am spading out the thistles. Good times!

On the plus side, we have the fun of cleaning out the flower beds, which is always a happy occasion. I always discover new shoots coming up when I clear away the dead leaves from the crocosmia and daylilies, and I am also likely to find more cheery spring bulbs about ready to flower, which I forget about during their dormant season. I spotted a happy pair of pink hyacinths ready to open up, and the white narcissus that pop up in a neglected corner of the garden are in full bloom. My tulips are up and the Russian tulips are blooming, with their fancy Dutch cousins to follow in a few weeks' time. The daffodils are starting to nod with their bright yellow heads, and my Sparaxis (at least I think that's what they are) are peeking up with their starburst purple blossoms. *sigh* It does my heart good to see all these lovely blooms in my garden.

I also bought four fruit trees (bare root) that must go in the ground today. I have bare root strawberry and blueberry plants to get in the dirt, too, in addition to transplanting all my existing strawberries to their new location. Once the strawberries are gone, we can finally give free rein to our neighbors with the plow and tiller, and we will have a large (for us) vegetable garden plot of about 30' x 30'. I have some stumps that termites and fungus have happily chewed up, so I will be putting the wood chips in the north end of the veggie garden, to make the soil a more fungally dominated one for the satisfaction of our corn. I will keep the rest bacterially dominated, which should keep everyone happy. See all the good little nuggets of information you can get from good regional gardening books, as well as a few nursery classes? And I am going to buy polyethylene sheeting to make "grow cones" to extend our growing season, hopefully keeping our veggies happy well into the fall. Maybe I actually will have a shot at growing some watermelons this year!

We will probably let the kiddos cavort around in the yard while we work, although DS will require a bit more supervision. He is still at the age where tasting everything seems like a good idea, and until we get rid of the thistles and nettles I have to make sure he's not wandering into any of them. Soothing nettle stings is not my idea of a fun parenting moment, and needless to say DS would not be too happy either! Fortunately I have already purchased yard toys, which will provide ample diversions for them. Also, DD will get to help plant more flower seeds, which is always a favorite task. The long flowerbed along the back walkway has been designated as "hers", so anything that goes in there she has to plant herself. We have plenty of sunflower seeds, saved from last year's crop, in addition to sweetpeas, purple coneflower, Shasta daisies, and a grab-bag of 'wildflower seeds'. That bed was gorgeous last summer, a happy confluence of rainbow hues and big and small flowers. Kids are perfect gardeners, because they use the same lackadaisical sowing pattern as the wind. Jumbles of flowers are always welcome in our yard, as are garden experiments with melons (soggy Pacific NW here, this is a long shot, let me tell you) and lilacs (not doing well, I am close to declaring them 'slacker plants' and yanking them). It's all a grand learning process for us all, but I love it. Greening up the garden = fun!