March Garden

My garden is starting to come to life.  My asparagus and rhubarb are up.  I should be able to make my first rhubarb pie soon.  The asparagus are still young — maybe next year I’ll be able to harvest some for our table.

Rhubarb

My peach, plum and cherry trees bloomed and my pear started to release their buds.

Peach blossoms

Pear blossoms

I’ve been very busy with the fruit trees this month.  I’m completely re-doing their irrigation and replacing the mint ground cover with compost and mulch.  I can get one tree done in a day, a bit quicker when Brett helps bring over cart-fulls of compost and shredded bark.  The orchard has always looked a bit unkempt and I’m really happy with how clean it looks now.  The trees should be happier too.  I’ve learned a lot about orchard care in my classes and am busy practicing what they taught us.

Before — a tangle of weeds and mint (still dormant) under the trees

Ground-cover gone and replaced with a layer of compost topped with shredded bark mulch.

Flowers are making the garden bright and cheerful.  There are still daffodils, poppies and pansies.  This month they were joined by Japanese quince and violas.

Violas

Japanese quince

Poppies and pansies

Despite the usual days of rain and the snow, which we desperately need, we have had a few days of sunshine between storms.  Those are the days I wear holes in my gardening gloves and cover my pants in dirt.  Those are my favorite days.