Cleaning Up After The Storms

March 29, 2018
Mercury Retrograde
Jupiter Retrograde
Sunny/cloudy and mild

It was actually dry enough, the past few days, to start cleaning up after the series of nor’easters that battered us in March. Most of the snow is gone, especially in my yard. There are some piles in corners along the street, but my yard is okay.

I started in the front. I’m in the process of clearing away all the branches and tree limbs that came down over the month. Not easy work, especially when it came to the large tree limb that broke off the dogwood. I hope I can work all through the weekend and make some serious progress. I should be able to finish the front yard today.

I’ll have to rake it then, still leaves around. I have to rake out the beds in the front. I used leaves to mulch in the winter, but there’s new growth, and I need to scrape away the old leaves and let it breathe.

I started cutting back the dead growth in the terraced bed in the back. I’d wanted to wait until it all passed and re-seeded itself naturally, but then the weather turned, and I couldn’t finish. Again, I used leaves to mulch. The new growth is coming up, so I have to rake it out. I cut back a good bit of it yesterday.

I also got out the handsaw and took out some invasive autumn olive and several oak saplings that are acting like invasives, especially within the rose bushes on the side of the house. When I’m sure it will stay mild in a week or two, I’ll give the roses a hard prune back — they’ve made that side of the house nearly impassable.

I still have a lot of that weird cedar-like invasive to dig out. I have to make sure I get the roots, or it just springs up somewhere else.

The crocuses are blooming, which is great. The daffodils and hyacinths are growing, but it’s been too cold for them to actually do much.

Yes, there’s a lot of work to do. If we have a string of days where the weather holds, it’ll be great. So often, the days I have time to work in the yard are the days where the weather is off.

But I’m looking forward to how beautiful it will be, once it’s cleaned up and ready for growing season!

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Snowy March

Thursday, March 8, 2018
Waning Moon
Snowing
Celtic Tree Month of Ash
International Women’s Day

Short post today, and not just because it’s snowing.

It’s because I haven’t made any garden progress yet. The weather’s been too awful to do anything outside.

Inside, the sweet peas are growing merrily away, but I haven’t planted anything else. Saturday and Sunday are the next possible planting days, according to my calendar. Although, since it’s waning moon, I should plant things like potatoes, that grow under the ground (or carrots?), not things to grow above the ground.

I saw a jokey meme on Facebook about black tomatoes for goth gardens. And I’ve become obsessed with dark tomatoes.

So now, I’m hunting down seeds from the darkest tomatoes I can find, and will add them to the many tomatoes I’m growing this season.

Because I love to grow tomatoes! 🙂

Have a great weekend. Let’s hope the weather starts getting better — at least on days I don’t have client work at their sites — so I can get out and start working in the yard!

 

March 1, 2018: Nothing Done

Thursday, March 1, 2018
Full Moon
Celtic Tree Month of Ash

I have gotten nothing done in the garden.

Nothing.

I am quite annoyed with myself.

However, on all the days the weather’s been good enough to work, I’ve had client work or other appointments. The days I could pull on some old clothes and get out in the mud, well, it’s beyond mud. It’s raining or sleeting.

So much for getting ahead of things!

I’ve got to get the invasive autumn olive, the oak that’s acting like an invasive, and that weird evergreen invasive out sooner rather than later. But, with a nor’eastern coming in today, I doubt it’ll be this weekend.

The sweet peas are doing well inside, but I haven’t planted anything else. I’ve got plenty of seeds waiting their turns, but, according to my calendar, the next planting days are Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week, so we’ll see what we can get done.

I’m writing about plenty of gardens in my fiction. Just not getting any of it done off the page!