February State of the Garden
I thought I would take some time today to show what is happening in the garden before spring officially is here. Spring is coming fast and now is a good time to get the garden ready for planting and finish cleaning up any debris left over from winter storms. We are way behind on our garden work this year and I did not get around to mulching the vegetable beds last fall but now that we are getting over the massive amounts of sickness that invaded our house this past winter we are able to get outside and get started! Some of our plants seem to think that spring is coming early and started to bloom and grow last week right before the cold snap over the weekend. I am hoping our early bloomers will not be too badly damaged!
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Early Bloomers
I forget what these flowers are but they have already started to bloom. Last year this plant took a hit with an aphid infestation but it seems to have come back very well and I am hoping it will be much healthier this year. This is part of the side yard plantings that the previous owners installed that I really like although they are starting to encroach on the path and will probably need to be cut back next year.
Slugs
It was very warm earlier this week and while the kids and I were walking around we found this little slug crawling out from some succulents. Slugs are a huge pest in our vegetable garden every year and we go on slug patrol most mornings in the spring to help clear them out.
Firewood chopping!
My husband has been hard at work this winter chopping fire wood out of the trees we had removed last fall. We need to find a place to stack it but there is so much we will have to build some sort of structure. The wood is still pretty green so we won’t be able to use it until next fall but I love having a bunch stock piled for next year!
Sadly the mulch pile is only about half way spread. I am unable to spread it when I am alone with the kids and we have been so busy I haven’t really been able to work on it. I am hoping to have it finished by the end of March but we have reached a point where trips to spread it take longer and longer so it will take quite a bit of effort to get it to the lower back yard. I really want it out of my driveway though!
Volunteer Carrots
I was taking a peek into the vegetable beds and I found a few volunteer carrots popping up! I am really excited about them because we did not have much luck with carrots last year so maybe if they come up on their own they will grow better. I won’t be planting in that bed for a couple of months so there is plenty of time for them to grow!
Before and After Hydrangeas
Our hydrangea bushes are still in the stick phase. They make such a dramatic change once the leaves start to grow that I thought I would include a picture of them for a before and after shot. These bushes completely take over the space and form a nice cave in between for the kids to play in.
Snow!
Of course the day after I took all of these fabulous early spring pictures the temperature dropped and it snowed! We only got an inch or so in the grass but it was enough for the kids to play in it a little bit. I am really excited for the weather to warm up a bit so we can start planting our vegetables! I am starting our peas this week and figuring out when to start our squash, pumpkins, and sunflowers. We will buy tomato starts and direct sow our green beans, radishes, lettuce and carrots later this spring. We probably won’t plant much more this year to keep the garden manageable.
What exciting plans do you have for your garden this year?
How exciting, volunteer carrots! I’ve never had good luck with root veggies, but this year we’ve a raised bed for the first time so we will see… and wow, what an impressive wood pile!
Thanks! I am excited about the fires we will have next winter. We apparently can’t grow root vegetables very well either, even radishes! Maybe this year we will get it right. What are you planting in your raised beds?
I’m hoping for tomatoes, cucumber, peppers (bell and hot), squash, peas & beans. This will be the first year so I’m not sure what will grow or not, so we’re going to just try it all and see what happens!
That is the best attitude to grow vegetables! There is so much luck involved. I never really understood it until I started growing them myself. We have tried hot peppers but we didn’t bring them inside in time and they got too cold over the winter. I hope your garden grows well!
We didn’t plant enough carrots last year, so I’m totally jealous of your volunteer carrots. Planning to grow more this year so we don’t eat through them so quickly again. And our rhubarb has started to poke through this week!