February
A few thoughts from the greenhouse…
This year the groundhog said we are getting spring but I’m really hoping for just a tiny bit more winter. The snow we got this year was fantastic, I’m not complaining. It’s just that I have this quality that my Peace Corps Program Manager informed me of in my twenties. She said “Emma, you are too greedy with success!” If I get something good, of course I want more of it! And to me snow is very good. Because it means I cannot do anything at the farm. Nope. No weeding, no pruning, no mulching. Everything is buried and the world is saying STOP. Go relax. Go sledding. Let that southern inner child make the snowman of her dreams.
I can already feel the wheels of spring turning though. Daffodils are pushing leaves up. The crocuses, snowdrops and hellebores are already easing us back into a world of color. The rest was nice, they say, but it’s time to get your hustle and bustle back. It’s time to finish weeding and mulching the perennials and woodies. Anemones are already blooming in the tunnel (three weeks earlier than last year). The spring is going to be busy and I need to be ready for it. I have a big order of new shade lovers coming in next month for the farm. A stand of trees that was small when the original footprint of the property was laid out are now tall enough to shade out two formerly sunny rows. It took me a full season to realize that is why our fall successions were failing-not enough sun. It’s a great lesson-where are we in autopilot, trying to do the same thing instead of adjusting to the reality we have? It doesn’t mean those rows are bad now. It just means they are ready to welcome shade lovers: astilbe, solomon’s seal and bulbs. It’s time to plant the sun lovers somewhere else.
We think we know things. We think we know people, our people, inside and out. But it’s so easy to lose the attention of looking at something as if for the first time. We are in fact, looking at a memory we recorded in the past. People change. Places change. How wonderful to realize that we don’t have to go somewhere new to discover something new. We just have to keep paying attention to what’s in front of us.
Garden job for this month: As you plan for the year ahead, really try take a look at the garden with new eyes. Where is the light? How big has everything gotten? Are there places that used to be a certain way that aren’t anymore? Are there plants that need to be moved or cut back? Keep in mind that the angle of the sun will change over the spring and summer and the deciduous trees and shrubs will leaf out. Happy planning!