Spring Cleanup Officially Begins

I think that it's official. Spring cleanup has really begun here. The neighborhood was out today raking the grass, sweeping driveways, and vacuuming. Oh yes and plenty of family outings. As you can see I decided to rake some of the yard -- the places where snow was piled just get so much dirt and gravel.



Dakota (that's an original name for our dog isn't it) enjoyed Saturday as the sun had melted the snow we got Friday. I decided that I could get some peas started in the garden today. I should have more planting and Spring plans recorded here in a few days.



In the morning of Friday we found that the weather station indicated snow, because it was white. We were lucky enough to be in a corridor that only got a couple of inches this time. Others were not so lucky with this storm and got over a foot more.

First Crocus Bloom 2008

Hey, I got my first crocus bloom of the year! I spotted this one in the front just beginning to peak out April 3 and got a shot of it open April 4. My photos from last year show a full set of blooms on the 15th. So, this year has a chance to be similar in timing. But, that's the only bloom so far and the last photo is from today (April 5). It's closed, I hope that isn't an agreement with the weather forecast...More on that maybe tomorrow.

So, is there some gardening signal that says I can plant very early spring crops when the crocus are in bloom? Well the timing will be close -- if you go by soil temperature it's pretty close. At least I can make sure some things are ready to go. Below is a photo of my makeshift pea lattice. I will see if it works. I also have some varieties of peas that only get a couple of feet tall, so those shouldn't need support.