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Temperatures in the upper 60s, plenty of sun, and more good weather expected can only mean one thing. It’s yard work time again!

Earlier this week we got our email update from Arrowhead Farm CSA reminding us that the early spring shares were going out, everyone with a share could pick up a living salad bowl this weekend, and that the weather was warm enough to plant some of the earlier vegetables.  Fortunately Su and I had already purchased some seeds so we’d be ready to plant when the ground was finally ready.

This afternoon I turned over the soil in our little 50 sq. ft patch we call our garden and mixed in the first soil we’ve made from the compost bin we started two years ago.  The two of us don’t generate much in the way of trash or food waste but I still managed to get about 5 gallons of dark, rich compost to mix into the soil.  The compost and the garden itself both looked great and had a decent quantity of earthworms, so I have high hopes for this year.  After turning over the soil I planted one row of mesclun greens and one row of broccoli rabe.  The broccoli rabe is something new to try this year.  I intended to plant the peas as well, but it turns out the seeds are in Su’s car which is parked at the airport.  I’ll plant some more green and rabe as the season goes on, but I wanted to get some in the ground now.

After that I managed to rake the yard, clean out the old, dead growth from the perennial beds, and plant some more grass seed hoping to fill in some of the dirt patches we have from our yard exploits last year.  It appears that most of the perennials we chose for our flowerbeds managed to reseed judging by the growth that is appearing around the remnants of last years plants.  

On this weekend last year we were wrestling with removing the giant holly bush, moving the azalea and rhododendron, and removing the scrubby bush/tree.

Holly bush destruction last year

After it was all done I took a shot to compare how the beds look today compared to how they looked in bloom in August.  Hard to believe what happens in only 4 months.

Perennial bed and garden today

Perennial bed and garden last August