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| Jasmine on my corner |
The last couple of weeks the weather has finally gotten nice enough to do some work outside. It's too early for most planting, and I don't do garden "cleanup" in the traditional sense. I let many leaves and dead plants stand all winter. Some dead stems I knock down but leave in place, I rake leaves off the grass, and I may do a little raking of leaves that have piled up especially thick some places in the garden beds. I clean up and turn over my small vegetable beds. But mostly, I let my naturalistic garden be, deliberately, in order to allow insects to live out their natural life cycles in leaf litter and inside plant stems. It's a bonus that allows a certain degree of laziness to feel virtuous.
But there is pruning of woody things to do this time of year, before the sap starts flowing. And now that the ground isn't frozen, many weeds stand out greenly from their browner surroundings. The birds and other critters are constantly bringing liriope, english ivy, vinca, and ajuga into places were it is not wanted. To get down and weed is a not too active activity, so it needs to be warm enough to feel comfortable. I've been able to spend a few hours most days doing a bit of this, and it feels great! Besides the subtraction work, I actually got out there and planted peas this week! The traditional day for peas and lettuce to be seeded outside is St Patrick's Day here in DC, but as an experiment I went ahead and did it.
Blooming now, besides the witchhazel, are hellebores and the yellow jasmine at the corner. Crocuses are up - February 19 was the first bloom (I kept checking). Daffodils will get going within a couple of days.
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| Endless puttering opportunities |
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| Two cherry tomato plants, one red and one orange Nothing ripe yet! |
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| Isn't this the cutest little pak choi? I started more seeds, as much for looks as eating |
