Spring Cleaning

My garden spring cleaning started with the herb garden this year. I've been a bit behind with re-mulching in there, which meant that some of the broadleaf weeds have been creeping in.

I'll be getting some new herbs in a few weeks so it's time to get things back into shape. First up, weeding. And while I tried to be careful I did knock the remnants of the pineapple stage in the corner. Turned out to be a good thing - I discovered the plant was completely dead and the roots rotted. Why is that a good thing? Because while I liked that plant the first year it took over the whole place and shaded out some of my favorites. The second year it came back but lacked the vigor, however it still shaded out some of the others. Now I don't feel so guilty about ripping it out.

Ah, much better. I also pruned back the bee balm in the upper right and the sage just beyond the left edge of the photo.

And now for the final step in the process, re-mulching. The horses got a little wasteful with their hay over the holidays, spilling it on the ground and then using it as a sort of equine litter box. It doesn't spread well in the pasture like that but it makes excellent mulch.

And the herbs don't seem to mind the healthy dose of nitrogen and and organic matter that is mixed in with the hay.

Now to find some new things at the garden center.

Sprouts!

We had a bit of a warm streak toward the end of January, so I got the itch to start planting stuff.

And it has mostly paid off!

carrots

radishes

kohlrabi

beets

sugar snap peas

I went with various veggies that are cold weather tolerant. The risky part was whether the soil was warm enough to facilitate germination. When it's cold and wet the seeds can rot in the soil before they have a chance to sprout. So after several consecutive days in the upper 70's I took a chance.

It wasn't a complete success.

I planted lettuce where I had to rip out dead broccoli plants after the great aphid battle. It was old seed. It didn't work.

The cats also had some input on what grows were, mostly where they preferred to turn the garden into a litter box. Most of the snow peas survived, and when I thin plants next week I'll try transplanting to fill in the holes.