Spring gardening season has definitely arrived, along with a week of good rain. The flower boxes I planted back in April are loving the frequent showers, and I’m excited to harvest a little of what’s growing. Although it’s rare that I actually get around to planting spring flower boxes, this year was different. After returning from our spring break trip to England, where spring bulbs and trees were flowering simultaneously, I was inspired. I yanked the browning evergreen tree tops from the boxes and made a trip to my local gardening store in search of pansies. I couldn’t resist grabbing a tray of verdant lettuce seedlings as well, and I’m glad I did. They’ve been growing like crazy this week.
Other than planting the flower boxes, I’ve not had time to do much more than a little backyard clean up…until now. This past weekend I spent my afternoons doing some digging. Yay! This digging was of the weed-pulling and prep variety, which isn’t nearly as exciting as getting the plants in the ground. Thankfully, though, I had a little help from the family, which made things a little more fun. We hauled three of loads of weeds to the compost heap…whew! When we finished, the garden looked a little barren, but boy do we have plans! Plants await, including broccoli, Brussels sprouts, bell peppers, roma tomatoes, Hungarian wax peppers (hello, pepperoncini!), carrots, and probably sweet potatoes. And we’ve dreamed up a new garden design for this season that includes a couple of raised beds.
I’m so excited to get going! Stay tuned for new developments in the garden and possible farmers’ market happenings for The Nitty Gritty Gardening Book.
Kari Cornell 