When we planted all of our annuals last year, we hoped that everything would survive the winter and come back now, in spring. With the wicked winter and the several feet of snow that covered our (sticks) fruit trees, I wondered how they would do. Most everything looks dead in winter and it’s hard to tell what is happening.
It all worked!
Grape vines, kiwi vines, the fruit trees (one apple is flowering already). Jostaberry, Currents, Blueberries and Strawberries all have flowers and are starting fruit. Sea Kale, Sorrel, and Turkish Rocket, Ramps, Horseradish, Mint root and 3 different mints – all are thriving.
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| Turkish Rocket |
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| Sorrel |
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| Dwarf Comfrey |
In our beds, the planted radishes, carrots, potatoes and arugula are already up and growing. In my flower pots, cutting flowers and poppies mixed with marigolds and kale – all coming up. Even the moon flowers and morning glories in a planter are sprouting.
Volunteers? A lone sunflower already 6 inches tall, a random potato in the back corner, and a bed full of what looks like cherry tomatoes and amaranth – where they grew last year.
We have already found a couple of critters in the garden: a sighting of the first little toad – who may, or may not be living under the dill plant…and a chipmunk in the wood pile. An unusual sight in the city, but welcome because I know each of them serve a purpose in this garden.
Spiders are weaving webs and we work at finishing our plantings. In a couple of weeks, the tomatoes will go into their beds and we are rotating arugula and radishes to keep them growing all summer. Then there is the Corn, Squash and drying bean bed – and I still need to find where I will put the Mammoth Sunflowers this year. These are the kind of decisions I love to make!
We made a change as far as our diet and started buying almost all of our meat and some greens from Mass Local Food. They also offer some plants, so we bought a Raspberry and added it to the garden.
All remains to be seen, but so far, I feel like I am coming alive with each of the plants I find growing of its own accord, and each I plant. Nature is a miraculous system that only needs the right conditions and will thrive endlessly!