Sandy Miller Pottery & Garden: Winter respite over!

It's happening!!!

But this morning a front has moved in, bringing rain, fog and much cooler weather. The fog is thick and muffles all the urban noises. Yet the titmouse and red wing blackbird calls pierce the air. There will be no gardening today. This will be a laundry and get more seeds started day. A drink one more cup of coffee day.

The past few days have catapulted us into Springs intoxication and Spring chores. The winter chore list just got filed in the circular receptacle because it's over! Those lazy mornings with coffee and seed catalogs, over! Pads on, tools in all my back pockets, Felcos (pruners) holstered like a sidearm and we are off to the races. I have managed a bit of pruning; fruit trees and elderberries but not much else. As I age those Spring energy bursts of, don't stop until dark are but a distant memory and I am trying to adjust to my older body. I stop for lunch and coffee now, take my boots off, telling myself this reflection will make me a much better gardener. Please leave me those grand illusions!

The changes in the way back garden have begun! After two 75 degree days, it was a dawn to dusk work out, although I'm definitely moving slower! I have been dreading this job but the calvary is not showing up.

I have lived with the cement block beds for 6 years now. They do not work. This way back garden area doesn't have easy access to water. Stuff gets planted and then stuff better buck up. I found the cement block wicks water away from the beds and the beds dry out super fast, even with heavy mulch. I planted strawberries into compost filled holes ringing the perimeter of each bed. I had visions of strawberry plants laden with fruit hanging over the edge waiting to be picked. It worked if I kept the blocks watered daily. I watched with mouth watering anticipation for the first red berries. I walked to the garden one warm morning in June, bowl in hand to find every berry had been stripped in the middle of the night. As my empty bowl was placed on a block to move plants around, wondering if any had been hidden, I watch a pair of fat ass chipmunks work the row next to me. I had planted a buffet for the chipmunks and ground loving critters. Not to mention the birds. I let the berry plants go to ground cover and it worked extremely well. The entire back was covered in strawberry plants last year and we did harvest 30 pounds of berries. The dangling berries did keep the chipmunks out of the beds.

This area is now shaded from so many trees, things I used to grow no longer do very well, due to lack of sun. Time for change.....

out with the cement block!

Re-enforcing the compost pile and blocking all chicken escape hatches.

OMG, I will not be hiring myself out to lay brick or block anytime soon! Three beds down and three more to go. Landscape fabric was peeled a way. That stuff should be outlawed! The tree roots were imbedded and had grown above the fabric. I used the heavy duty, nursery landscape cloth and it was a fight to the death to get that crap out of the garden! I like to ease my body into the garden season and this was akin to be plunged head first into the landfill and digging your way out. March 3rd and already the sweat was sliding down my face and into my ears, my underwear was plastered to my butt. But I have the vision and the end result, well it's a very big brass ring to grab for.

So what edibles grow well at the edge at the forest? I'm opting for blueberries and raspberries. I wrestled out three of the largest blueberry bushes. I still have three more to go. Gosh I learned so much when I dug them up about root structure and why some bushes were doing so well and others dwarfed. It was not the variety but the roots!

Blueberries re-homed in the new bed....

The old bed will have a cattle panel hoop house installed.

Soon I hope!

Across the back where the cement block was taken out and barrels of tree roots excavated. Raspberries have been divided and will run the length of the back garden. They will get great morning sun! The small patch currently producing well, will be tripled in size. The birds don't seem to bother the raspberries very much. Trellises still need to be put in too. No more plants gone wild! I wish I had the space to let the raspberries free range but I don't.

chickens and dirty knees are a sure sign of Spring.....

Last of the carry over winter projects is ongoing. Mortaring old fieldstone in the foundation and new basement stairs. Yee Haw! I have to tie myself off to get down these steps. I used to have my laundry in the basement and at one time my studio. A basement with a dirt floor, a river running through it and so low you can knock yourself out with one wrong move. I am not sure how I carried 50 pound boxes of clay down these steps and fired pots back up. These stairs were original and rickety, rickety is being nice.

During canning season, loaded down with jars I'm up and down so many times a day I loose count. The basement has a dirt floor and honestly for all our food storage from the garden I love it. Think French cheese caves and wine cellars....... again with the illusions.