This week was crazy and I didn't get to be in the garden as much as I would have liked. Still working on clean up and put some bulb food on the the many alliums I planted last fall. Also, I just like to poke around and see what is coming up.

I'm on a corner lot and the town always piles up the snow on my corner, so I am left with a big pile of sand to remove. I have a stone edging which helps some, but that gets pushed around some as well.

One of my roads at the corner is dirt, so I walked around collecting the boulders that surfaced over the winter. It's a good weight lifting exercise!

I look forward to this sunny week and with daylight savings I can stay out later. I just tell my DH that dinner will be later this time of year. Nothing better than coming home from work and puttering in the garden!

More raking! I don't think I'll be done raking until fall, when it's time to start all over again!

I did get my largest garden cleaned up - it's about 25 feet wide by 14 feet across - so that's big chore done. The leaves really pile up here, so got those all cleaned out and exposed a lot of pale green sprouts! Had to hand-pick leaves out of the azaleas, etc. Phew. Glad that's done.

I pulled out the rest of my potted perennials out of the garage, including the roses, which I always worry about. I never know if I'm pulling them out too early or too late. The perennials I don't worry about so much, but the roses...

Still doing a bit of winter-sowing, and checking daily on my new seedlings.

Made a run to the nursery today for composted manure to get my veggie and annual beds ready.

You know - I'm starting to really like this thread, lol. When I write down what I did, it always seems like more than I thought I did, lol!

Looking forward to the forecasted nice weather this weekend - will be a nice change from the snow/rain/cold we had last week. Hopefully I can get a handle on things this week!

:)
Dee

Sometimes reading this thread wears me out, everyone is getting so much done!

I turned my compost piles, and spread sifted compost on my long border, after I cleaned it out as well as I could. I started some cuttings of a nice yellow alyssum, we'll see how those do. My son was shingling the front of the house, so I had to cut back my old overgrown rhodies. They don't look particularly healthy, I suppose I should give them a good dose of compost or manure. They're plagued by black vine weevils, I've been working on it for about 5 years but I can't seem to get ahead of those nasty beasts.

I'm working on a plan for a patio and a new path in my back yard, so I continue to wander around with tape measure and pencil, getting myself more and more confused. Well, it's good clean entertainment for the neighbors.

Oh, yeah, and I started making lists. Lots of lists of things to do, before the season gets ahead of me. I hope that at least SOME of the jobs on those lists will eventually appear here, on one of Belle's threads, as things that have gotten done. Eventually.

A little raking - trying not to undo the good work of the physical therapists on my back, though, so I have to pace myself.

I planted wintersown baby mesclun in a windowbox style container today, and centaurea Blue Diadem with bright red Flanders poppy (albeit bright red Flanders poppy is currently teeny tiny green poppy seedlings) in a whiskey barrel planter. There is an outer circle in the barrel which could still be planted; when I find my orlaya grandiflora, or something else white, I'll finish it off.

Pulled down more mulch around baby shrubs (toddlers, now???) and roses.

Potted up begonia tubers and started 6week seeds.

Planted second round of spinach and lettuce in containers and first round in ground.

Helped dig side trenches to form the main 37' long walkway from parking area to patio and had first pallet of bluestone for walks in the gardens delivered. Main walkway stone should be delivered later this week. Amended 8" base of 2" rock put in last year and allowed to settle over the winter with rock "dust". Demulched garden paths.

Started "new" compost bin and stirred up the mature stuff.

Found out where the critters hid the Iris reticulata bulbs and now have a little stand of them in just the perfect place. Critters are smarter than me, sometimes.

Switched tall Sedum and short Heuchera to take better advantage of light.

Dug out last of annual grasses from last year.

Composted new around-the-mailbox bed and dug it in.

Painted out shape for new nursery bed/cutting garden.

Cleaned up bird baths and della robia containers.

Chopped down beyond redemption Rose of Sharon after 1.5 seasons of trying to bring it back.

Became ever more grateful to have gardens again.

Martie

Martie, you have been busy indeed!

Today I amended one of my raised beds. It took longer than expected because I found about 40 seedlings of helenium from last year's planting that must have reseeded. I had to dig them up and replant them. I also noticed a ton of aster seedlings in the next bed over. I guess I'll have to move those before I do that bed.

I planted out my winter-sown lettuce and beet seedlings. Hoping I didn't jump the gun on these - when I came in I went through the recycling for some one-liter soda bottles to make cloches just in case...

Hoping to sow my cuke seeds this afternoon.

:)
Dee

Dee, your lettuce should be fine - suspect beets will, too.

I have energy envy. I simply don't have the stamina to do all this stuff in the garden you guys are doing. Now where are the cheap laborers (aka teenagers?) when you need them?

It does seem like all the "puttering" adds up when you start writing it all down!

I put up a bamboo trellis and planted some pole beans and then some bush beans today. Happy to see my pea seedlings coming up in the next bed over. Transplanted some turnip green seedlings from the cold frame to their bed. Thought about putting squash seeds in cold frame but didn't. Watered the pak choy and mustard greens, and covered with chicken wire after noticing squirrels were digging in them.

I put in a serviceberry "tree" this week too, but it's only 4ft. tall right now, blends in with the shrub hedge but maybe I'll get to taste a berry this year.

Oh, and potted up some things for early trades: moonbeam coreopsis, some johnny jump ups, and a low green sedum that had rooted in the raspberry bed.

Noticed my quince bush is about to flower. Charged batteries in the camera.

Thanks for the vote of encouragement on the lettuce and beets, drippy - especially since I never did make it back out to put the cloches on the seedlings! This is my first time growing beets - most likely in the near future you will see a post from me somewhere on GW wondering how and when to harvest, lol - but I'll worry about that part later!

Okay, cstaas, I'm not so sure that "thinking about something but didn't do it" should count, lol! Just think how much we'd all be posting if we listed those chores! Just kidding. That sentence just made me smile because it describes the way I approach many of my gardening chores too!

:)
Dee

I'm still cleaning out the beds-cutting back perennials and Clematis, raking leaves, cutting down the raspberry canes. I've been digging some of my plants for a new flower garden at work that I'm helping with. Hubby raked some patchy areas of lawn and put down grass seed and organic fertilizer which is made of alfalfa, salmon, etc. I should have filmed it b/c one of my terriers followed him everywhere as he was fertilizing b/c she was hoping for the corn gluten that he spreads sometimes. It is like droplets from heaven for her-but fortunately she didn't like the fertilizer as much. She's blind so she kept running into him as he turned with the spreader-it was comical to watch them.