Things to do today (or next couple of days)

The outside temp has been very favorable for working in the garden these past few days. I see people around the neighborhood out walking again as well as doing yard work. The weather service tells us this will change for this weekend. Temps will dip back into the 40’s and the storm that is currently dumping snow on Washington state and Oregon will bring its ‘gifts’ to us.

The list of things I need to do to get this garden up and running is the usual spring list but with a few additions. Last Autumn I laid out water line to carry water to two spigots at the back end of the yard so I don’t have to drag my hoses out that far every watering day. I was either getting tired or lazy and did not bury the line in the ground but instead opted to cover it with mulch for over winter. Well, that didn’t work out very well because several sections split and need to be replaced. I had only run water through them once to check for leaks but the line must not have emptied well enough. So, another thing to add to my list is to make sure the line is angled so that it will drain more completely.

Chores for the next few days are:

• rake the front lawn of Catalpa tree seed pods. I will store them near the compost pile for when I bring the lawn mower out and then chop them all up to use as mulch.
• Fill the newest planting bed from the compost pile
• Plant peas in B9
• Move the Aster Snowdrift from F1 to B1. It spread out much further than I was told it would, so it needs more space plus I will no longer hear my wife complaining about it taking over our front walkway.
• Do something about the grass encroaching into B3 from the neighbors yard. I’m thinking I will dig a trench along the chain link fence and bury boards deep enough to block the roots (expected success is iffy at best) and cover the area with wet newspaper and cardboard as if I’m starting over. I do so much hate having to repeat what was already done, but grass is forever persistent.
• Spread manure over the vegetable beds so that it mellows before planting out in a month or so.

I seriously doubt I will get all of this done before the coming rains and possible snow, but it sure feels good to get back out into the garden.