Finally, A Sunny Sunday

After too many wet weekend days to count, we finally had a reprieve. Today was mild and the skies were mostly blue. It was so nice to be able to work outside again. And goodness knows, my "to-do" list is a mile long at this point. I started the day by weeding the flowerbed directly to the right of the front steps. I was pleased to find that everything new that we planted last year had survived the Winter and was starting to put forth a lot of healthy new growth.

I particularly like how these "Jet Fire" daffodils look as they mature, with the petals pulling back, away from the trumpet. They almost look like they have been caught in a windstorm.

After finishing that project it was time to move to the back of the house and tackle cleaning up the vegetable bed. Each Fall, I make a concerted effort to get all of my gardening areas cleaned-up for the year. This last Fall however, it started raining in September and never really stopped. I was lucky to get one nice weekend where I harvested all of my Winter Squash and pulled out many of the tomato plants. But that was as far as I got. Soon it was time for the Holidays, and then Winter really set in. So today I set out and finished what I had started back in October. I thought it might take me an hour or so. Well, three and a half hours later I was done! I got all of the old plant debris put on the compost pile. I then weeded the whole area and picked up all of the plant cages that were still there. Then Dad helped me and brought in a load or two of fresh Natures Best blend on his tractor to fill in some low areas. He also helped me do some fence repair where the zip ties had broken over the Winter. Finally I raked the whole area smooth and I am now ready to begin planting! Right now the 10-day forecast show next weekend as mostly sunny and dry - fingers crossed!