Garden Musings

Garden Cleanup: A Start April 15, 2007

The weather has finally warmed up. It was cold most of the week until yesterday (Friday) when we finally broke 50 degrees. Some mornings this week were in the low to mid 20s with highs in the 30s.

Yesterday, I got home from work early and worked outside for about two hours. I put stuff outside:

I also pulled down the garden cart and put on a bag for tomorrow (Saturday). I unpacked a tower and two trellis’ that arrived from Smith & Hawken. I now have a bunch of cardboard to tear down and recycle on my front porch.

I pulled the bags of leaves off the rose behind the garage and the rose along the side of the garage and I picked up all the garbage that had blown into the yard over the winter. At long last I actually removed the not-so-festive Christmas garlands and wreath from the front porch. I’m sure the neighbors are relieved. I pulled up or cut down all the deer deterents I had placed last fall–I probably missed a few but I think I got most of them. The deer are definitely visiting and munching. Fortunately, there is not much up yet to munch.

Today, Saturday, it was about 27 when I got up and the highest temperature I saw was 56. I worked outside without a coat, just two sweaters, for about three hours. I managed to cut back all the clematis, pick up sticks (there was quite a pile as a result), pick up the sod disrupted by the snowplows, started pulling leaves off two beds and assembled the two trellis’ and moved them into place–I’ll stabilize them tomorrow.

There really isn’t much up yet. The snowdrops are still blooming. I have a few crocus in bloom and some winter aconite. The forsythia is really ready to bloom. Another day or two of warmer weather and the buds will open–it should be pretty spectacular. It looked like most of the clematis are alive; about a dozen, can’t tell yet. Some have green buds but most I could tell were still alive because the wood was green inside as I pruned. The daffodils are coming up and the few remaining tulips from the previous owners. The rhubarb is still looking short (and very red); none of the rhubarb in the white pine bed is up yet. There are a few signs of my Jacob’s ladders coming up as well as a pasque flower.<p>

There’s a lot of leaf removal in beds. I know mulch is good, but this is a bit much! The leaves are almost one foot deep in places. After all the bending and picking up, I wonder if I’ll be able to move tomorrow?

I suppose I should try to take some pictures to document this year in my garden!

I also attended a geocaching introduction today at the Chamber of Commerce. It sounds like fun. There are about 700 geocaches within a 100 mile radius! Amazing!