It's Alive!

It happens every year. Mild mid-March weather tricks us into believing that spring has arrived. Then winter blasts back in to remind us that we may have weeks of cold temperatures yet. Today, for instance, is the first day of spring (Happy Spring, everybody!), but we awoke to a world of gray and white. It's snowing! And it's really cold out there! And yet, the garden is alive!

Shallots.

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Leaf buds on our baby apple trees—they overwintered in the garage successfully!

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Yesterday, on the other hand, was a work-in-the-yard kind of day. The wind was chilly, but the sun was warm. No jacket or hat necessary, just jeans and long sleeves. It was marvelous. A few years ago, I might have been hopeful—and foolish—enough to start planting my vegetable garden on a day such as yesterday. But I've lived here long enough to know better. Instead, we did some yard maintenance. Churning up the soil where I plan to plant the veggies later... Stirring the compost...

We had quite a bit of garden-ready compost in the bottom of the bin, so we reorganized it—put a piece of wood down the middle of the bin to divide in two, keeping the soil-like material on one side, and all the still somewhat recognizable other stuff on the other side. Now we can dump scraps into one side and allow one side to fully decompose. Then, we'll shovel the ready stuff into the garden and start dumping scraps on the now-empty side, allowing the other side to sit and rot (so to speak). It should be good cycle. I'll let you know how it works out.

In the meantime, let's get excited for winter to really go away so we can really get the garden started. I have big plans! (Just like last year, but hopefully I have learned a few things after last year's minor successes and many failures.) More garden posts to come, of course.