Usually in early March, my “gardening” amounts to watching the snow melt, looking for robins, and general dreaming-and-scheming. In a more typical year, there may be day warm enough to get out and start poking around in my garden, but it certainly wouldn’t be reliably warm enough to get out there to DO anything.
But this is not a typical year. Everything is upside down!
This year, not only CAN I get out in the garden, but I NEED to get out in the garden already. The weather has been consistently warm enough here to trigger . . . spring. Or, at least, what seems to be a true early spring. Usually here in my corner of the world, we get “teaser days” of spring here and there. But then we tend to roll back to winter-y weather for weeks at a stretch. So usually I really can’t trust those taste-of-spring “teasers,” and I avoid getting out in the garden because it’s just too early. Usually, we go from not-quite-spring to full-on-spring over the course of a week — and that week is usually in late April.
This year, it appears that our spring may last for awhile.
Which calls for a different approach – a more leisurely approach – to my spring gardening!
Over the weekend I grabbed my trusty garden journal, checked over my early spring chore list, and dug in! There are plenty of things I can do now — even if we do get another dose of winter (although I’m just not seeing it in the longer-range forecasts at this point).
Some of the things I can do right now . . . are things I usually have a hard time getting to until much later in the season, if at all.
The garage was warm enough and comfortable enough for me to get my garden tools in order and inventory my supply of gloves and pots and . . . other stuff.
I was inspired in time to do something about – as opposed to just dreaming about – starting some seeds (flowers and herbs). I always think about starting seeds, but just rarely do anything about it . . . mostly because spring seems so far away, and surely I can just “do it later.” Which, of course, I can’t. And don’t. This year, though? I have A Plan! I’ve decided what I want to grow, I’ve ordered my seeds, I know when I need to start them, and I’ve procured the necessary equipment. (I may even have a little spreadsheet. Although this is total overkill, given the number of seeds I’m planning to start.)
My biggest accomplishment over the weekend, though, was cutting back my hellebores! I always get this done – eventually. (It’s a task often delayed by snow.) But this year, I cut back the foliage of all my hellebores (and I have a lot of hellebores) already! (And I used my new, super handy hand saw to do it! Perfect tool for the job!) My hellebores went from tangled-mess-of-foliage to proud-blooms-ready-for-new-foliage in quick order! (I even found volunteer baby hellebores under the leaves! Now I have more to transplant!)
It felt great to be back out in the garden . . . although it’s still pretty unsettling to be out there this early. (I’m trying my best to roll with it and adapt.) I’m hoping to avoid the usual panicky rushed feeling . . . of everything happening in the garden – and needing to be dealt with in the garden – all at once. Because it looks to be a more steady unfolding of things this year.
How about YOU? Are you busy in your garden yet?
Not quite yet. We are having another cold snap. But inside I am doing some dreaming and thinking. I could probably tidy up my garden cart and tools. Thanks for the nudge
I have been out in the garden also (and boy does it feel way too early!) I even did a bit of weeding (not too much, but some!) I still need to cut back a couple of things… but the biggest thing (the butterfly bush) got done yesterday in 74 degree weather!!
I thought we would have just as early spring as you but we took a turn back towards winter with snow and colder temperatures. I have started flower seeds though. It’s probably too early but they sprouted way faster than I expected so we’ll see how it goes. It’s my first time doing it. They are really spindly right now…I’m hoping they are busily growing roots! Enjoy your time in the garden! What an unusual winter this has been.
I’m glad you got things done and can garden in a leisurely way, but this is so unsettling! I haven’t done anything yet, but there are leaves to clear out of beds, rampant roses to trim back, and seeds to start.
Glad you are happy. I used to do a smattering (isn’t that a great word?) of container gardening (low commitment) but…times have changed. Beautiful hellabores!
Your hellebores are so pretty. Fletch has been cleaning up some birds and he finally spotted the first garlic shoot coming up through the leaf mulch! Soon we will have greens again in our cold frame.
Snow fell on my tiny pink buds of hellebores and I’m worried about their growth. One plant has 7″ stems which are now nearly on the ground. Boo. 🙁 I think it will be a week or two before I dare do much. Smith has started a few things and readied a bunch of pots for seeds. He’s also been spending some of our warmers day fixing machines of the community garden. He stays busy with the garden year round.
It’s very strange to have your spring be more advanced than mine. I have trimmed back the hellebores (and bought a new variety to plant) but I haven’t done anything else since you told me to hold off to protect the habitat of any critters who may be out there. I am itching to plant pansies in the window boxes, though!!
We had a few warm days where I got quite a bit of weeding done but honestly, it is TIME to plant lettuce and pea seeds! But it has been very cold and wet–the soil is just at 40 and I’d feel better if it got just a week bit warmer.
of course I’m not busy in the garden … but I am loving seeing what others are doing 🙂
We have snowflakes in the forecast for this weekend, but I think early spring has arrived here as well, given how much seems to be blooming and budding already. I haven’t yet done anything in the garden, but I will soon! I need to do some cleanup and start planning what I want to do. I’m hoping we can remove a tree from the front (it’s right at the corner of the house, so it seems like it might not be good for our foundation to leave it); that would give us more sun on that side and allow me to put another planter in.
I have a lawn guy, (don’t judge me 🙂 ) And last week I asked him about removing the leaves (blown in last fall to protect plants) from the flower bed. Last week he shook his head and said, “too early”. This week he said it was time. So there you are. The beds are cleared and the daffodils can stand tall and my hellebore are flowering and so is the quince and life is good.
“There is no problem in the world that cannot be solved by a spreadsheet.”