Spring has arrived and our gardens are springing to life. Little signs hold big promises in my garden.
I know that some of you may be surprised to learn that I don’t “clean-up” all the leaves and debris on my garden beds, but I have many great reason not to touch anything until June and one of those reasons are the adult butterflies nesting in the fallen leaves like this Mourning cloak butterfly that I saw in my garden last April. Removing the fallen leaves and debris destroys many pollinators that hibernate in them during winter.
So how do I spend my time in the garden at this time of year? First of all, I finally stand up from all the seed”sitting” I have been doing to convert my seedsitting command center into a bit of a covered greenhouse. If you recall, my seedsitting shelving unit had been covered with plastic chickenwire to deterr squirrels. One lesson I learned was that the wind was a far stronger foe than the squirrels as many of my trays were lifted and flung around…. so I lost all those seeds!
Today I covered the shelves with thick plastic sheeting in the hope that it would protect against the wind and also create a bit of a greenhouse effect to help the seedlings germinate.
The way that things are beginning to grow, I expect to hold my first garden tour in May to show you the ephemerals that grow in my woodland garden so keep an eye out for the announcement.
