What's Been Happening in the Garden?

Well, quite a lot has been happening in the garden. I jot some notes down as I go, but I'm not meticulously recording everything.

Early spring is all purple crocus
and yellow daffodils

This time of year, there is an enormous amount of work to do, but also I can enjoy the fruits of previous years' work. Since last I wrote in February, we've been through the extra-early witch-hazel and winter jasmine, and early to late crocuses. Daffodils are mid-season now, and the first tulips are showing color rather than foliage. (Two of the hellebores I transplanted last year are doing very well in the front bed along the house. I think I transplanted more than two, but I'm satisfied that at least two made it.)  Little plants are sprouting up everywhere, and I'm trying to remember what they will become. The redbuds and serviceberries have just started to bloom, and the dead leaves are almost down from the pin oak on the corner. Now is the beginning of the native spring ephemerals, quickly making chlorophyll and flowers and seeds before their associated native trees leaf out and shade them back into senescence. The virginia bluebells, the most showy example of these, are doing ok, but may not match the displays of some other years.

In early March, suddenly the weather turned nice, and we had two straight weeks of nice warm and sunny days - with no rain. It's not great to go that long without rain, but it sure was nice to haul the porch furniture cushions out and not have to pull them back in for many days in the row. Of course, the warm weather got me moving outside. I'm not sure, looking around, I have a lot to show for my efforts, but efforts there have been. Most of it, so far, has been cleanup and weeding, so not so dramatic as planting new things. 

I did, on impulse, buy some cold season vegetables and put them into the back vegetable bed. I haven't

Bloodroot - spring ephemeral

yet put up the net guard on that back bed. I planted four rows of vegetables in half the bed: onions, broccoli, chard, and some miniature chinese cabbage. Oddly, about two weeks later, the broccoli row was empty - something came through and ate just that. I need new plants to fill in that gap.

At the same time, I bought pansies - several different shades of purple. I put them in the pots on the corner, and as has happened before, something came by and uprooted some of the plants, leaving them lying on top of the soil with the roots exposed. I suspect deer are the culprits in both the missing broccoli and the uprooted pansies, though I haven't eliminated squirrels and rabbits as suspects.

I planted grass seed last year in the back yard, and for a while it seemed I might actually have a lawn in the back. But then, streaks of it yellowed and died. Now I have many spots of dirt in between actual grass. My research suggests a virus, but there wasn't much guidance about how to defeat it without spreading nasty chemicals. I also have some bare spots where my big dog pees multiple times a day. I did add some new topsoil to some low and bare spots, and then overseeded the whole area. That was just a few days ago, and I have no baby grasses sticking up yet, but I remain hopeful. I have to water at least twice a day now until the babies establish, or I declare the area dead. I have another area I want to dig up, add new topsoil, level out and seed, but it's a big job. I keep adding to the job, potentially making it bigger, by thinking about digging really deep and burying some drain pipes to be a dry well, as this is the low spot where the water accumulates before it finally surges over the edge and down the hill into my neighbor's basement.

I bought my first batch of perennials this week, and today's plans include planting them. I'm trying to hold off buying more until I get these planted. I do have a history of overbuying, and not getting them all in before they die. But first, I have to weed the places I intend to put them. 

The Grill-to-be

I've also bought things. My gas grill has been broken (sometimes usable) for two years, and two years of youtube fixit videos and spare parts finally made me give up in frustration. But the new one I bought came in a big, 175 pound box. I managed to wheel the box on a dolly to near where it was to go, and then it took many many hours to put it together. On my birthday, I went to Ikea (celebrating fully vaccinated!) and bought their only briefly available garden furniture - I suspect this stuff will be much easier to get together.