The Spring Garden Is Planted

It finally stop raining long enough to think about my spring garden. For weeks I noticed that the soil was super wet on the front deck but assumed it was just because we had so much rain this winter. But when I was getting ready to plant I realized the drains in the copper beds were clogged. What a mess! With the help of Max, my gardener, we dug out all the dirt, cleared the drains, and added gravel to the bottom of the planters to prevent that from happening again.

I made a quick trip to Roger’s Gardens for eight bags of compost and then we mixed it in with the old soil and refilled the planter. It’s very important to have really good, well drained soil for healthy crops.

Then I raced against the rain to get everything in the ground before the downpour. This year I’m using the entire front deck planter and the raised beds on the side yard for veggies.

I’m growing it all–A to Z–arugula to zucchini. I try to plant continually so I always have something ready to harvest, but I had to start over on the deck. The only survivors were the two passion fruit vines. I’m always on the lookout for fun garden art–it’s hard to find good stuff. So far this year’s addition is this red bird. What am I thinking? I don’t really want to invite too many birds.

This is what the raised beds look like now. Very small plants. But I’ll talk to them every day and encourage them along and while I’m waiting for them to produce a feast for me, I’ll enjoy the lemons and the roses.