Spring In Progress

It was time! The two raised beds, where we overwinter or start our early crops, were rotting. Seven years..who would have thought they would last that long.

The Captain was prepared, cut all the boards ahead of time, and we got down to business. The rot was even worse than we imagined.

Our weather is still very cold, so we felt sure, once the sides were extracted, the earth would stand frozen, alone and unsupported, like a beautiful chocolate cake. That is pretty well what happened as you can see below. Soil on the sides crumbled a bit, and well you know how things go...there was a modest miscalculation caused by the decrepit state of the raised bed. And, we forgot about the wire at the bottom to keep out the rodents, and so, it did go as planned, except we forgot some things.

Originally we had lined behind the boards with plastic, mostly to keep the soil from washing out between the wood. Yup, we forgot that too...  We got up to speed pretty quickly, and although the wire has to be retrofitted, surprisingly it went along fairly well, until we I got tired and cranky.

Supervising is a tough job! One bed done, now for the back one. Maybe this year..maybe not. There are always jobs in the garden, it's just making time for them I guess, and that is often the problem. Making the time. Just do what you can, don't get too bogged down. The intention was and always has been, for it to be a joy in our lives.

I closed my eyes and thought of the first day of spring. Did you celebrate? It was a beautiful sunny day here on the south shore; a perfect day to be invited out for lunch, to raise a glass with an ode to the season recited capably by another guest. So dear friend, you knew exactly what to do when you found that forgotten bag of tulip bulbs in the shed...craft a centerpiece. Thank you so much for making it happen. Happy Spring Everyone.