A Schizophrenic Spring

Yes, I do believe it's official that spring is finally here.  I mean, winter was officially declared "done" last weekend.   And we have had temps in the 70's....but they were followed by a few mornings of frost.   Yikes!  And then we had 45+mph winds the other night accompanied by rain.   And now today it's gorgeous out again.....the sun is shining, the winds have finally died down.   But it's 45 degrees!   Oh, well.   That's spring for 'ya.

 Our granddaddy pear tree is happily blooming away.    I just hope the frost warnings we have for tomorrow morning don't drop all the blooms or we won't have any pears this year.   But the tree sure looks pretty against all the bare tree limbs of our hardwood trees.

 Our bees have come alive once again and are actively buzzing around the blossoms on the pear tree.    Joel is especially grateful that the bees survived their first winter here on the farm.   Hopefully we will be getting our first harvest from them late this summer.

 This is the tangled mess of grape vines that need pruning late every winter.    I really enjoy getting outside working on the trees and bushes, preparing them for buds that will hopefully bring us a good harvest later on this summer.

 See, all cleaned up!    Now the buds can develop on the second years' branches, producing at least 2 bunches of grapes on each branch.

 Buds like these.......they are so ready to "pop" out.

And here's my trusty green trailer that I use to haul all the cut off portions of the branches from the grape vines and blackberry bushes.   The burn pile always seems to have an ever growing assortment of branches and twigs from somewhere on the farm. 

All of the other trees in the orchard are blooming as well as the pear tree.   Even though we lost quite a few fruit trees last winter due to the ice storm of the century, the trees that remain seem to be doing pretty well.    This is our sour cherry tree.   The crabapple, peach and other varieties of apple trees are all in bloom, too.  I have to tell you, it's a welcome sight to see pretty flowers again on the farm.

One area of the farm I've been working on lately is the wooded area next to the roadside of our land.   It just seemed to cry out to me to be "pretty".   Um, yea, Joel just rolls his eyes when I talk about it.   But seriously, in my mind's eye I picture a smattering of early blooming flowers dotting the slope under the trees going up the hill.

I have finally depleted the stack of stone that was delivered almost 2 years ago.   By creating a low lying wall, I've eliminated an eyesore area of the farm where grass wouldn't grow and weeds took over.   Not very pretty.    Now, we can mow up to the wall and I get to play with some flowers in a bed where we can enjoy the view every time we drive up to and leave the farm.   

Our first fall living here, I planted a few daffodil bulbs so they would start to multiply year by year.   Last summer I planted some more perennials, plants that come back all by themselves each growing season.    Pink astilbe was planted in a mass planting, reminding me of the frothy pink astilbe that my grandmother used to grow along her house's foundation.   

Today I plan on thinning out the hostas that have been in a flower bed at the front of the farmhouse for over 25 years.    There are so many of them that I could start a nursery of hostas!  Hostas love shade and will also come back each year without any coaxing, so they are perfect for the woodland planting as it is way too far from the house to get water out there.   Anything I plant in this bed has to make it on it's own!    No fussy plants that require constant care or watering.  Nope.  It's survival of the fittest.    I still need to get out there and clear out about 15 feet of the woods behind the flower bed so I can bring in understory trees like redbud.   Yeah, there's always another project in the works.

Speaking of projects in the works......this bare wall of the barn that faces the back of the farmhouse has been crying out to me for 2 years.    Last year I planted 2 pussy willow bushes as foundation plants.    A couple of weeks ago I brought the stones from the never-ending-pile-of-stones to make a low wall and create a bed for greater impact.    

Then it was time to make a little vignette.   Oh, come on, you knew that was coming now, right?   Out came the old red chair with the blown out cane seat, perfect for plopping a round planter into it's middle.   The birdie sculpture was next....rocking and spinning with every breeze.   Then, I brought out the old washtub.    For now it only has creeping Jenny dripping over the sides.   Um, yea, I had to lay some chicken wire over the tub until it is full of flowers (after the frosts are done).  Otherwise, the cats think it's a great place to use for a bathroom.   I never had to contend with that before......this barn cat thing is a whole new experience when it comes to gardening.    Those furry suckers go everywhere!   Anyway, as summer advances this side of the barn will become a riot of blooming flowers.    Stay tuned.

So what is this monster, you ask?    Ha!    It's Joel's newest toy....er, um, machine.   It's an Agri-Fab.   And it's basically a leaf sucker-upper-mulcher machine.    It tows behind my mower and has it's own motor to run the mulcher blade inside it.   This thing is fabulous!   We have needed one ever since we moved here, but the cost of one prevented us from taking the plunge.   Until last week.   

Joel found one for sale second hand......in perfect condition.    Woo-hoo!    Now the piles of leaves we accumulate from the thousands of trees on our land will become mulch for our compost piles.    Just mix the ground up leaves into the piles of poop from the alpaca, wait, turn occasionally with the tractor, and in a few months we'll have fabulous compost for our gardens.   Win-win.

And so, today I plan on working outside since it's sunny out once again, even if it is a bit chilly.    But I'll have to cover all the plants by days end because we are supposed to have frost tomorrow morning.  Seriously?    Enough already with the freezing temps.   OH, and we will also need to disconnect the hoses for the alpaca waterers.    Um, yea, not gonna make that mistake again!   And that, folks, is how we deal with a schizophrenic spring.    

Dreaming of flowers,

Debbie