Late April 2013 Garden Update

Tis the season of rebirth...ye ole time of revival of the plants and springing forth of dem flowers n' shit. OK enough old English speak. A lot has happened over the last several weeks that I foolishly didn't think to capture in real time and post as it was actually happening on some sort of device. I MUST BE GOING MAD! But here is a recap taken on my phone in about 5 minutes. By the way everything I did over the last few weeks was happening to this Bat For Lashes song called "Lilies". So Kate Bush-y and wonderful...joyful music! - Dahlia tubers are finally blooming...my concern was stirred when I noted that Mary on my MOW route had this huge dahlia plant already and i had nothing, but they are just taking their time. No rush, ladies! Just wait until you are ready, you are going to be beautiful. -veggie garden...tomatoes are out of the igloos now, rhubarb is doing well, snap peas are hopeful. Garlic and onions planted last year are about a month away from harvest. I tore down some of the favas (planted for soil quality purposes mainly)to make way for more non-igloo dwelling tomatoes, peppers and I found FENNEL hiding in the favas...coming back for a repeat performance from last year, yay! -spring bulbs, the final chapter...going to say goodbye to the pansies soon too, but am excited about those sweet peas peeking up next to them...they need their own space. -raspberries came back in a big way! the stalks started peering out a couple of months ago. So many that I decided to thin them out and plant them in a straighter line for a bigger yield. Let's see if my experiment pays off. They seem to be growing nicely so far in their new soil patch. Stay in your lane, ladies. -potato grave...i just put some compost on the leaves...they were really popping up and you have to keep burying them. It is really fun to pull potatoes out of the mound in the fall...I think this is going to pay off. -Front yard grass removal project is now complete. I used the newspaper method for most of it but Colin did take some clumps back to patch the backyard sod. And then we built the mounds. Planted Irish moss mainly but with a few interesting perennials intermixed. Hopefully they take off like the other mounds did...the moss covers those now and the plants are out of control 2 years in. This is a big accomplishment for me. I finally feel like the front yard is essentially done. I will be making lots of adjustments as things grow in and I want to add more Bamboo along the brick fence..oh and there's that hot tub in the backyard...it actually well never end. -Kale and mesclun...it takes forever to really get going. At least in my experience. I'm very happy that summer is coming and lots of gardening is on the horizon...grateful!!