The Garden is Awakening from Winter's Slumber

Those of you who garden know that winter is a time to relax, and not worry about the myriad number of things that have to be done to care for a garden. Here in Auburn we do have fours seasons, occasional snow and lots of cold temperatures that end any blooming periods or annuals lives. Folks in the midwest and east coast get a much longer rest, for many of their gardens are still buried in snow. At this time of year many folks are looking through seed catalogs while others are drawing  plans for their new garden or gathering information on new plants to make changes in their various garden areas. Its planning and preparation time. 

Winter for some of us is a time to prune dead wood off trees, or perhaps prune fruit trees, berry bushes or roses.  I have all of those to work on in our heavily cultivated acre with a small orchard and over fifty roses. It is also a time to cut back dead foliage and mulch the garden to provide new nutrients and inhibit weed growth.  Since I made some changes in the garden after the frosts put it to sleep, I am beginning to see the furits of my labor already popping up through the soil. I put in two new tulip beds with fiftty tulips, ringed by daffodils and daffodils ringed by Blue Hyacinth. The eleven plus inches of rain we have had this month are generating a lot of growth in the various varieties of bulbs.  It is amazing to see large clumps of daffodils already pushing up six inches above the ground.  Tulips too are pushing their shoots through the soil, and dutch Iris bulbs have a head start on their foliage. It appears that the daffodil and tulip bloom will be early this year, probably in the next three weeks we will have some glorious colors bursting forth in the garden.  

I made the decision to put our Satsuma Mandarin Orange tree in the ground this year since its pot is crumbling. I dug a hole for it yesterday but unfortunately I saw today that it was full of water, so its obviously too wet a location.  I don't want it to drown, so tomorrow I will choose a new site. I prepared the ground today for our first seedless purple grape vine and put metal stakes in to support the vines when they grow.  I planted our first vine in freshly dug well mulched soil.  Tomorrow I will string the support wires to train the the vine to spread out on.  Another four days of rain will give it a good start.

It was great to get outside today in the sunshine and get some preliminary work done.  The soil is still really too wet for extensive work, but its easy to dig and I successfully uprooted some wild blackberries that were spreading. There is still a great deal to do, but tomorrow I will pick an easier challenge!