It’s spring! I must admit I’ve been enjoying late winter so much I’m almost sad to see it go. I guess I’m enjoying it so much because it has this tint of spring to it…and there aren’t quite as many things to get done out in the garden.  Here’s what I’ve been up to in my garden:

I built a seed starter out of an old metal shelf, shop lights, and chains. Here it is:

Not bad for $30. I started leeks a few weeks ago. Eggplant, peppers and butterfly were seeded the beginning of this week. The butterfly weed has been an interesting plant to start and I hope they turn out. I bought the seeds from Johnny’s and I have tons. To get them started, I stratified the seeds. This is a fancy term for a cold treatment, or sticking them in the refrigerator. The directions said to seed them in moist soil first and then refrigerate. I don’t have that much room, unlike greenhouses that usually have walk-in fridges. I’ve done it by putting them in vermiculite in a plastic bag, but I decide to just put the seeds in a wet paper towel inside a plastic bag.  It’s easy and it works. They were in there two weeks, which is a short stratification but still should increase the germination rate. I think it worked pretty well–I’m already beginning to see their little green seed leaves. They’ve beat the eggplant and peppers at germination rate: still no green sign from them.

Spring clean-up is well underway.  I’ve taken over landscape maintenance at my HOA, and started cleaning up the property grounds. There was a lot of winter breakage that made for a large pile of sticks, plus more from pruning a few ornamental trees. The neighborhood did a haul to the green waste facility, so all the wood is gone. The old maintenance company left piles of fall leaves and I rescued the dying grass underneath. There are still lots of leaves to clean-up due to a lack of good fall clean-up. I’m’ hoping to turn this minimally managed landscape around, and it’s really nice to have a landscape to take care of where I’m actually paid to do it instead of paying to have it done, or basically paying myself to do it.

Before pruning...

After Pruning

Over at my grandparents we pruned the peaches. I realized the twig dieback was winter-kill, and not insects/disease. The simple cultural answer is usually the right one; shame on me for blaming it on insects at first. At my grandparents we also took a hated, weedy Oregon grape and limbed it up. There was a lot of debri in and underneath the shrub, so it’s a lot cleaner now. I didn’t mind it before, but now it does have a more cultured look to it.

One almost done...

A lot less messy!

Last gardening task for this week was cleaning out a flower bed. I was hired to do this, and throughly enjoy the prospect of seeing an overgrown perennial bed changed to a vegetable garden. It was good hard work getting rid of yuccas (that have gorgeous red roots), spruces, perennials and grasses. The soils was absolutely perfect for cultivation which made our job easier. We added a layer of compost after removing the plants, and I bet this garden will soon bring forth great plants.

Halfway there...

Ready for planting

I’m still enjoying my bulbs. The crocus and Showwinner tulips are almost gone, but the early stardrift (Puschkinia libanotica), grape hyacinths  (Muscari armeniacum) and minnow daffodils are in full bloom. I love the minnow daffodils, with their itsy bitsy daffodil bloom. Still have a couple more bulbs to come up…we will see if they do.

View from my window

And now it is officially spring. Time to plant peas, lettuce and cool season crops, start planting hardy ornamental plants including all the bare root stock, cultivate soil, and maybe teach a class. It definitely is the busy season.