Since rebuilding the raised bed, the temps dropped considerably so things slowed down outside. But under the grow lights inside, tomatoes, eggplant (aubergines) and peppers are growing well. They will not get put outside until the ground warms up, and only God knows when that will be. But the good news is, two days of light rain and the garden has certainly perked up! The little blue flowers of Chionodoxa are covering one bed, and other bulbs are putting on growth; seeing this is always a spring tonic don't you agree?
Pulmonaria blue ensign above, is blooming at the same time; the Cornus mas Redstone is a wet blur of yellow!
The Captain vacuumed the lawn...you know what I mean? He used the lawnmower to suck up all the bits of debris from tidying the beds and what winter left behind under the snow. No grass to mow but surprisingly he said there were three bags full, just like when he does mow, so that is a lot of debris isn't it.
Usually we broadcast pelletized lime over the 'herbal' lawn after the vacuuming, and a little fertilizer to keep it from totally being covered with what is normally referred to as weeds. My son said once, how he loved the fact that our lawn was covered with natural growing plants; plantain, dandelions, moss, bluetts, clover etc. I took that in stride, continuing to be envious of the perfect lawn, but that is never going to happen around here. Plantain was never much of a problem when we had hares in the woods. They would happily much away and it really was their preferred lawn food. But we haven't seen a hare (hide nor hare))) for a long time. They were the reason we put chicken wire around the vegetable garden, at the bottom of the pickets, extending it down into the soil surrounding it.
There's been lots of bird traffic at the feeder; blue jays, goldfinches, purple finches and sparrows along with the usual bossy crows. The robins came to feast on the sumac cones and I've never seen them eat those seeds. However, one of the most exciting bird sightings happened late on the 21st of April when two turkey vultures landed just above the back garden and stayed the night. For any southern folks this would likely make you chuckle, to think we would be excited about this, but it is still considered a rare bird here in Nova Scotia, Canada. I was able to get a few photos as well. You can just see the second one to the right, with it's red head, behind the tree tops.
A good drizzle is falling out there now, and the temperatures are at twelve degrees C. so I know, those baby germinated choy, radish, lettuce, arugula, beets and chard are doing their happy dance, hoops uncovered, feeling their own spring joy, grateful to see spring arrive, as I am.
