March 6, 2007

It has been a while, hasn't it?

I'm sitting outside on the deck on what has to be the first most perfect sunny day we've had since my last blog update... last summer. The winter has been harsh, with the "storm of the century" wind attack, massive amounts of snow and ice (for us anyway) and the wettest November in recorded history. From an outside point of view, given the circumstances of the weather, I'm told our yard doesn't look "that bad"... however I know better. I see all the fall cleanup I didn't get to last year, the branches we never picked up from the wind storm, and the weeds! Oh the weeds!

Dan has been itching to get out of the house, so last Saturday we headed off to a nursary just to get some fresh air and find inspiration for spring. With the shit winter, and Dan's surgery, we both have cabin fever pretty bad. There we found blueberry bushes, and since we've talked about getting some for a couple of years (but always at the wrong time of the year) we decided to take the plunge and pick some up.

Sunday was mostly spent prepping the area and planting the bushes, along with multiple conversations with the neighbors about their garden plans. Every year she gets her vegetables going far sooner than I do... my plans are perpetually thwarted by unforseen circumstances beyond my control. This year I hope it will be different. Getting the blueberries planted gave a huge boost to my inspiration and I'm now excited to get to the next step.

Last night I started seeds for the vegetable garden. I plan to expand the beds out into the yard, where we get actual sunshine, and also rotate the beds from years past. I'll also be putting the tomatoes up on a trellis instead of in cages... it'll be more work, but I've discovered that since we are in a cold climate, this is supposed to give more fruit exposure to the sun, and give the plants a chance to ripen. I'm hoping that, plus getting the veggies in the ground in April instead of May, will give me better results. Last year I got some romas to ripen at the tail end of summer, enough to can 4 pints, but that was it.

March, however, will likely be All Clean Up. The deer have paid particular attention to our yard this year, eating down quite a lot of our bulbs and (to Dan's dismay) the white flowers at the base of our cedars. These are Dan's favorites... the white blossoms that welcomed us our first week in the house are something he looks forward to every spring, but they haven't been the same since we first moved in. Today I'm getting quotes on fencing across the back of the yard... we'll likely need a company to come in and do it, and I can block the side entrances myself to keep the deer out. Lovely though they are, they need to find a new grazing ground.