Sunday Spring Garden Tour

Walking around the garden this morning, I snapped a few pictures of life emerging after a long winter. Although it was only one degree Celsius, the sun was shining, and the light breeze from the northwest wasn’t cool. It felt like spring.

This morning’s sunshine and warmth is the calm before the storm. By this time tomorrow, all signs of spring will be under 20 to 25 centimetres of blowing snow. Hopefully, it will be the last snow storm of the season.

Garlic: It’s up about two inches.

Oregano: All three plants appear to have weathered the winter well.

Daylilies: an old faithful in many gardens.

Garlic Chives: It’s almost time to start picking strands to chew while I walk around.

Mugo Pine: I love this unruly pine.

Snow in Summer: An amazing low-growing groundcover with fragrant white flowers.

Tulips: They will be in full bloom in about 4 to 5 weeks.

Daffodils: Another week of sunny days, and they will be blooming.

The manure pile is almost full. After brewing for a year, this turns into the magic that feeds the soil that in turn feeds the plants in my garden. This pile is a mixture of soiled hay and shavings used for bedding, goat manure and urine, duck manure, chicken manure and rabbit manure.

One of the first signs of spring in Nova Scotia, even 40 years ago when I was a rag-tag kid, is pussy willows in bloom. I first spotted these last week, just breaking into bloom. Today, the ‘flowers’ are bulging.

While it was tempting on this warm day to start the clean up of the garden, remove the extra hay and the boughs protecting the plants, I stopped myself. With the snow storm coming tomorrow, it is better to leave everything as is until after it passes.

Later this week, spring weather is predicted to arrive. Then the garden clean up can begin.