Spring!

I hit the garden today...just a little spring cleanup. The snow has melted from the majority of my beds. I don't think I've ever been out this early in the season before. But I've got big plans this year. My decade of gardening, interviews with fellow gardeners and last fall's publication of my book have inspired me. I feel like I have hit a pinnacle as a gardener. I'm ready to really trust my instincts and to run with my ideas.

I've got two pathways that need a lot of work and this is where I'll start. I've mustered the courage to try the mint in these areas, despite their invasive tendencies. I want pathways that my daughter will smell when she walks on them. I want the scents to trigger her memory all her life. Whenever she smells mint, she will think of gardening with mom.

We returned the fairy objects to the fairy garden today. My daughter has big plans for this garden. Mainly, she plans for the fairies to return. Last year they brought her a shiny pink marble that resembles a star sapphire. They also brought a necklace of tiny sea green glass. She wants the fairies to come back early this year. She worked hard for two hours laying out marble pathways to the two fairy houses that remained standing despite the ravages of winter snows and wind. I'm sure those fairies will return.

And this year, last year's vegetable garden will become a pumpkin patch. This is my third year vegetable gardening. The vegetables will return to the bed they originally occupied two years ago and will also be spread among perennial plantings. A gardener friend of mine lets her vegetables run wild -- tomatoes especially spread to unlikely wildflower beds and beyond. I like the idea of walking among the flowers and finding a surprise edible along the way. We'll see how well planning out "random" vegetable plantings goes.

Growing season spreads before me with grand opportunities. I hope that the snow melts faster!

A Healthy Garden is a Happy Garden

The true state of my garden is revealing itself. On April 27th I posted about my Jack-in-the-pulpits, wondering if they were to return to me this year. Whereas last year there were only a couple, I counted at least four in my garden today! This is a wonderful sign!

Everything looks lush and healthy. I've been pruning more heavily than ever before, pulling out shrubs and moving them. My plants seem to be breathing a sigh of relief. They have room to blossom. Old dead leaves that have accumulated over the years under overgrown branches are being dug out. The previous owners of my house had landscapers. I do all my own work and have learned a lot over the past year. My new found knowledge is reflected in the garden's health.

In addition to pruning I am also adding manure to every garden. I've removed layers of mulch and plan to rely mostly on compost instead. I have begun fertilizing with a fish based fertilizer and to do so regularly. I'm weeding regularly and hoeing, with a goal of putting in at least 1/2 hour into gardening a day. So far, I think that the average has worked out to more.

Here are some snags I've run into:
1. I have piles of pulled up grass, branches and other cuttings that need a home. They are accumulating in my woods and I don't know how to get rid of them. The piles are so big I envision days of work and possible exposure to poison ivy, etc. to do the work. Any suggestions about how to get rid of this rather than just heading to the dump with it?

2. Though I have vowed to go organic and have gotten rid of all chemicals except one bottle of Roundup, I haven't found a way to get rid of poison ivy without the chemical. I haven't researched it yet either, but I'm open to suggestions from my gardening friends.

Everything else is going well. I hope to get out tomorrow to take pictures of the yard. i don't think I've ever posted pictures of my own gardens.

Clean Up

I have been making a concerted effort to clean up my yard this year. I have vowed to go out at least half an hour every day to perform my cleanup, but am finding that I am out for longer periods more often than not. Usually in the spring time, I run out to the garden center to get something to plant before the clean up is complete. Then , the cleanup is never completed. This year, I have focused on raking leaves and amending soil before I allow myself the indulgence of planting. It feels nice. After a decade of gardening, I finally feel like I have a big picture sense of the activity. Every part of the yard has been swept. Every plant has been examined and pruned. Each separate part of the garden is a separate room, waiting for its turn to be cleaned.

I planted pansies today. It was a present for all of the hard work. The final "room" outdoors was cleaned. The shaded space out my back door is a brick patio, generally covered with dirt, pine needles, weeds and moss. It felt lost and hopeless for a couple of years. Today, I set on it to scrub it clean. I raked the small spaces of dead dirt surrounding the brick, hardened by the time I neglected it. I even added manure and by the time I was through, the space felt new - a special find like when one scrubs a gray floor to find a white sparkling shine beneath. I have a vision of a real garden surrounding the patio now. The pansies I planted felt like decoration, as the flowers do when I place tulips on the counter. I feel like my gardens are cheering me on. I am ready to make the rounds again, starting with garden one and working my way around the yard.

I have new gardening friends to thank for showing me the way. The interviews from "The Gardener's Soul" breathed life into my own gardening habits. We gardeners learn a lot from each other. Gardeners are such generous people, willing to share their tips. There is so much to learn. There is always the opportunity to rethink our gardening styles and habits. And as we change, our gardens bend. How many times does a gardener have a breakthrough in a lifetime? How many times have you changed or refined your habits? What has led to YOUR breakthrough moments?