Is it too Early for Spring? Never!
What do you do when there is two feet of snow in the yard and it’s February or March?
It’s never too early to start thinking about the season that is coming up faster than the snow is melting. Spring with its longer days and slightly warmer temperatures will have most die hard gardeners just chomping at the bit. For some avid gardeners, the end of one season does not mean that the gardening is done. Oh, on the contraire! Gardening even in the northern climates is a 4 season event. While, I will grant you, that it is not done outside during that one season that brings the snow and cold, the gardening is still being done.
Most seasoned gardeners, no pun intended, are working their garden one season in advance of the one they are in. As well as maintaining what needs to be done in the current season of growing. What do I mean?
Well, let me explain.
For new gardeners, spring may be the time that you would think of starting to grow something, or plan on growing something.
A seasoned gardener will already have his seed catalogues out and marked up with new plant orders, or new plant “wants” for the garden.
He will already have taken notes from last years spring, out of the trusty garden journal he’s been keeping, mark off what plants worked and what plants didn’t work. Then, decisions will be made as to what plant is going to be replaced and/or what new plant will be incorporated.
If they are growing annuals, they will start the preparation of soil, grow lights, heat mats and the like, so that those new annuals will truly be their “babies”. If this sounds like a lot of work, think again. Oh, it is work in a way, but it is also the start of the joy that comes when you have tended the seeds lovingly and you see with your own eyes, the marvels of nature unfolding right before you. There is something spiritual in this whole exercise of growing things.
Spring is also the time when the gardening forums start to bustle with activity and little packages of extra seeds are shared amongst the members. You see gardeners are the most generous people you could ever meet. They just love to share, not only their plants, seeds, cuttings, and advice, but they also are generous with their “hits and misses” in their own gardens.
Garden and home improvement expositions are carefully marked on the calendar. You just can’t miss an all important Gardening show. You may learn something, that even though gardening for years, you didn’t know before.
On warmer winter days, you will find those gardeners cleaning up their garden tools, if they didn’t do it in the fall. Their favorite tool other than the gardening tools will be a can of oil or WD40, to keep all the clippers, bypass pruners, loppers and such, in tip top working shape and ready for that first session of pruning.
Gardeners are always looking ahead!
No rest for the gardener, there is always something that needs to be done, but, it is such a wonderful thing when the neighbourhood kids come by and just stop in awe, admiring what you and nature have created.
For that gardener that had his act together in the fall, those spring bulbs are starting to emerge from the warming ground. If you haven’t done any fall planting, you don’t have to feel left out. The garden centers will be full of potted tulips, daffodils, crocus and hyacinths. So you can purchase some spring in a pot already to be enjoyed. And after they are finished with their indoor show, you keep them for planting out in your garden for next year. Gardeners are an ever optimistic bunch.
A must have for any gardener, new or old, is a point and shoot camera. There are so many pictures that need to be taken.
Especially of something wonderful in the garden, that is just growing so well. Don’t forget to take pictures of the failures too.
It will jog your memory when the next season comes or a gardeners journal is also a handy item. Itemize by day/month/year and you’ll be able to match up your notes with the pictures you’ve taken.
Make the notes on what is doing really well and what is not. The journal will tell you when you fertilized, clipped, cut back, trimmed all the plants, bushes and shrubs and a whole bunch more. Of course it depends on how well you keep your notes. It can also be used to keep track of other housekeeping that needs to be done.
I love having a tool caddy, that keeps all my tools in a handy space and sometimes doubles as a rest bench. My journal, camera, tools, fertilizers and all those good things are right there. No need to go searching for that lost trowel or cultivator.
Although, for myself, I always manage to misplace one tool or another as I sometimes become distracted by something else in the garden, or stop to talk to a neighbour.
Get Ready – Spring is that Time!
Giving your neighbours a great show!
We are focused on spring because the winter, while it has it’s moments to garden, just lasts so long! Spring is the time that all activity begins to increase incrementally as the days seem to get longer and warmer. It is the rejuvenation of the gardeners spirit, that makes them want to spend as much time outdoors as absolutely possible. It’s also a great time to meet and greet your neighbours, who have hunkered down inside for the last few months.
Catching up with your friends while pulling out last years failures and making room for this year’s possibilities is a joy for each and every gardener I know. It is also a great time to separate and share your excesses. Those perennials that just want to take over the world are brought under control and shared with the neighbours so they can proliferate in other gardens too.
The rest of the Garden, that’s not growing!
Spring cleaning the Patio Furniture
In my garden there are a few extras that need some Springtime TLC (tender-loving-care). One of these areas is the patio. When I am not in the garden, I take some well deserved breaks and sit on the patio enjoying the fruits of my labour. But those chairs that have been in the storage shed, look like they have been sat on by critters other than myself. So, out come the power washer on the first sunny day, and in no time at all, the chairs are fit for my derriere to rest in!
Now we are blessed with a pond in our yard, so there is a little extra spring maintenance to do there too. After counting all the fish (just kidding), making sure that any leaves that happened to make it into the pond are fished out (again no pun intended), removing the air stones and checking the filter, topping up the pond and turning on the pump, our yard is ready to enjoy.
Spring Has Sprung – When you see these beauties!
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