Usually, March is a month for noses pressed to windows, impatiently waiting until it’s warm enough, dry enough, late enough to get out there with a shovel and start the frenzied rush of spring chores.
Spring’s early arrival in the Pacific Northwest changed the pace of my spring gardening. Cutting back and raking up remnants of fall happened at a leisurely pace in short sleeves. Last possible frost dates be damned, the tender plants have been hauled out into the garden for weeks now.
No need to wait for the soil to warm up before ordering a fresh load of compost. No need to rush to spread the compost before rain showers weighed it down and carried a compost-y river down the gutter.
Soil is workable and it was easy enough to get planting early. Maybe too easy. Early digging does pose some extra risk of cutting into something that’s still sleeping. Fortunately, those incidents were few and far between.
This is a new spring experience for us here. Where are the drippy days with soil too muddy to work? Is this what it feels like to live in California? (more…)
While out running errands one day I made a quick stop at the hardware store (not to be confused with a big-box store, after all Winks is the real deal). I was quite surprised to see an extremely healthy Brachyglottis greyi growing beside the parking lot.
That sighting got me all nostalgic for my own Brachyglottis greyi which just up and died last August…
My biz partner Patricia equates plant propagation with visiting a nursery… “buying plants, that’s propagation right?” Well truth be told that’s pretty much how I do it too. After all it’s a plant lust mission to support our contributing nurseries, a JOB requirement!
My most successful (nonshoping) propagating experience thus far can be attributed to Mother Nature. Those plants that are supposed to be wicked reseeders? I rarely experience that side of their personality, perhaps due to my propensity for tidiness (I really do try to let them linger and go to seed). The exception is Euphorbia rigida, seedlings actually appeared! I’ve moved many of them around the garden, but love how these five plants placed themselves just so along the sidewalk and pathway in front of our house.
