Garden update - March

Jasmine blooming in the bay window

Although we had a few nice days sprinkled here and there, we're expecting snow again tonight - maybe up to 8 inches ...will it never end?!  During one of the rare recent pleasantly warm days, I headed out to the garden to assess the damage from the winter and do a little prep work to get some greens and lettuces going for spring.

Under the fabric tunnels

I pulled back the garden fabric from the hoops and sadly not much made it through the colder than normal winter. I've been spoiled by the mild winters over the last few years where there has been a nice carpet of greens waiting under the tunnel in the early spring.  This year, it's a wasteland.  I spent the few hours I had of daylight after work, pulling out all the stems and dead leaves from the beds in the back yard.

Brussels sprouts worse for wear

You can see that most of the poor Brussels sprouts have mostly turned yellow, but the tiny sprouts are barely green. I pulled the worst of the lot, and propped the rest up on stakes, gave them a good watering and covered them up again.  They may not pull through, but I'm holding out hope that at least one stalk makes it.

However on a more cheerful note, there were a few hearty hold outs that managed to stumble through.

Carrots, split and gnarled from many freeze thaw cycles

spinach planted at the end of last fall that will continue to grow into spring

There are a few random leeks and onions that managed to hang in there, but not enough make much of a meal, but into a soup pot they will go.  Some of the garlic has made it through and the rhubarb plants are starting to show subtle signs of stirring with little leaf buds poking through the stray mulch.  With that and the jasmine blooming inside in the window, it's exciting to see that spring won't be too far off.

Thanks for reading!

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