The Gardener’s Morning
The robin’s song at daybreak
Is a clarion call to me. Get up and get out in the garden,
For the morning hours flee.
I cannot resist the summons,
What earnest gardener could?
For the golden hours of morning
Get into the gardener’s blood.
The magic spell is upon me,
I’m glad that I did not wait;
For life’s at its best in the morning,
As you pass through the garden gate.
– Howard Dolf
The above poem pretty much sums up me and my garden. I love Spring, time for plants to awaken and the cycle begins all over again. Today was the perfect day to get the garden bed ready, it had finally dried out enough from the monsoon rains of last week and with more forecast for the next couple days, I thought I had better get out there and get things ready to go.
Below is the before shot, after burying my herb pots last fall and covering the bed up with a layer of mulch, things are looking pretty drab.
I dug out the herbs, washed the outside of the pots and set them aside until I finished raking all the mulch to one side and turning over the soil.
Rosemary…Rosemary..where for Art Thou? Be You Alive or Dead?
The Oregano and Mint are pushing out new growth, but the Lavender and Rosemary are not looking so great…especially the Rosemary. Nary a needle was left on its branches. So I trimmed them all down and have my fingers crossed that it didn’t succumb to winter kill.
The Thyme is also showing lots of new growth. It seemed to have fared better being put directly in the ground and covered with a heaping of mulch, I have made a mental note for next fall for all the herbs.
As I dug under with the spade, overturning the hard-packed earth, startled earthworms wriggled to safety….one way to know if you have a fertile garden bed is by the abundance of earthworms. They are nature’s soil aerators and fertilizers, not just food for hungry Robins.
Once the bed had been turned over, I smoothed the soil out with a rake, making sure to get rid of a few early pesky weeds trying to take root. I then headed inside to grab some seed packets…carrots, beets, peas, radishes and bibb lettuce ~ today was the perfect day to sow them to take advantage of the cooler weather. Most root vegetables and lettuces prefer the cooler days/nights to germinate, unlike my beloved Pepper plants that need some sauna time before they decide to send a root or leaf forth into the world.
There, all done. The bed now awaits the remainder of its charges, whom are basking in the sun’s rays in my living room window….but first I need some patience (ha!) to stifle the urge to get them into the ground now.
Meanwhile, the Tiger Lilies are enjoying the space to themselves, content to hog the sunshine before their garden mates join them.