Spring cleaning

It's amazing what one can get used to.  I put together a small photo album for the permaculture consultants who are going to transform our property into a more productive and less laborious landscape.  Could the sight of flat, brown garden beds under a grey sky inspire a grand design?  Does it help to have a couple dozen water-filled plastic bottles, previously used for weights, strewn about at random, serving no purpose?  How about endless aluminum cans (cutworm barriers) that didn't make it back into the storage area after the last harvest?  Solar garden lamps are askew, shreds of green plastic compost bags litter the soil, and the lawn has never looked worse.  Therefore, I also allowed them to view my garden album from last summer, which was nearly a shock to me when I reviewed the photos recently (see the strip under the blog title for a sample).  I had almost forgotten that nature had colours other than brown and was inspired by the thought that this dazzling green could be here two months from now.  But it's good to have ugly "before" pictures, right?

Not much has been done about the non-organic stuff, but this past weekend I walked around with a big bucket, quietly calling "Bring out your dead!".  Mainly in reference in dead leaves and grass, of course.

The lawn (it was hard to even call it that) was pale, dry grass squashed flat and matted together and didn't appear to bear any potential for renewed life.  Luckily, we have a dethatcher, a vicious kind of rake that gives a good comb and tease to the grass.  I usually dethatch a bit later in the season and am rewarded with a greener, fluffier patch of grass than I started with.  This time of year there isn't much green, so the lawn just gets a little fluffier, and dirtier.  The rake really is vicious, the ground is wet with melted snow, and the grass roots, not so robust at this time of year, are easily yanked.  There are bald spots here and there and I know I should have been more patient, but now the new grass has better access to sunlight and that chore is done (and my back has almost recovered).

The front garden accumulates leaves in the fall and we allow them to stay to give what comfort they can to the many perennials that are stuck in that harsh environment.  Now that the daily high was into double digits, I felt okay about exposing them to the fresh air.  Let them grow while they can.  We still have an ample supply of bagged leaves that can be emptied to provide temporary shelter again in the event that severe cold returns in the next few weeks (which is almost guaranteed).

The best part of cleaning up from winter was unearthing last year's parsnips, including two that might have been huddled together for warmth, or maybe one is trying to consume the other.  Can't blame it; they are delicious.  We've had a few meals of these, humbly prepared in the microwave oven with butter and home grown garlic (also last year's, dried).



Getting the outdoors spiffed up for a new season is a bit of work.  That's my excuse for neglecting the more traditional version of spring cleaning, interior.