This week marks a shift in my sense of urgency from “Wow, I’m really getting a head-start on the garden” to “Oh no, I’m behind already!” Here in the Willamette Valley we have had a lovely run of rainy days interspersed with periods of warm sun, and the weeds are flourishing.

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Let’s take a tour of the garden!

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The scilla is popping up in the front yard, which always makes me smile. I will leave it as long as I can stand before mowing. Lungwort is blooming, its pink and purple flowers remind me of the bedroom color scheme I longed for as a 7 year old. I can see some daffodils getting ready to go, and some tulips that decided to bloom early on short stems. Importantly, the forscythia is in full flower, which means it’s time to prune the roses. I’ll put that on the list for this weekend.

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Side and Back Yard: Tiny Orchard

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Moving around to the back, the pear tree and lilacs are budding. The tiny orchard is all planted, and should be mulched soon. The beds still look pretty scraggly from the winter, but for the past month or so I have been working on cutting and pulling last season’s spent leaves and stems. Some of it, like the corn stalks, I cut up and leave in place. A mulch chipper is definitely on my wish list. This year, I’m going to use IV Organics 3-in-1 white wash with a bit of liquid copper and neem oil added, to protect them from variable temperature and sunlight, and the aphids and fungus that can run amok in the PNW.

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Vegetable Garden

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I’ve taken care of two of the veggie beds already, by weeding and putting up my trellising. The peas are planted, and I’m thinking next about radishes. The rest of the beds still have a few things from the fall garden to eat in them: carrots, beets, chard, fennel and purple sprouting broccoli. The kale is bolting now. The weeds are taking over, looking as lush as vegetables from feeding on my rich garden beds. There’s another job for the weekend.

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Inside under lights, baby asparagus, artichoke, and cardoons are looking happy. The peppers and tomatoes are kind of wimpy, though. I think it is time to start feeding them. I’ve started round two, because I always panic around this time and assume that I failed the little seeds. Probably everything will start coming up all at once now.

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Around Front again

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Coming back around to the front, the camellia is blooming, and the rhododendron and magnolia have buds.

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Herb Garden

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In the herb garden, we have the result of an experiment. I’ve been throwing seeds out to see if I could encourage certain herbs and flowers to naturalize. Looking around, I see radicchio looking very decorative, and lots of chervil which I love to use in the springtime, it tastes like a more delicate tarragon. Here and there I see the perennial potato onions that I put in last year, and of course the oregano, thyme, sage, rosemary, and artichokes. I also see weeds, which is the downside of this naturalization experiment. I’m going to need to get in there and hand-pull weeds, I can’t just hoe it all up and layer mulch.

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There are some other areas around the front where things have re-seeded from last year. Bachelor buttons, love in a mist, calendula and poppies among the roses, tulips, and columbine. I threw a lot of seeds out without a clear idea of what the plants look like as babies. We’ll see if I live to regret my choices.

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Garden tasks for this Weekend

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  • The forsythia is blooming, so it’s time to prune the roses.

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• • Hoe and weed the vegetable beds, and pull anything that is done.

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• • Mow/ trim the grass around the beds in the back yard. Leave the front for the scilla for now.

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• • Hand detail-weed the front herb and flower beds, try to determine if the plant is a friend first.

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• • White-wash the baby trees.

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What are you working on this weekend?

Let us know what the weather looks like where you live. What zone are you in? What’s coming up in your beds? Can you plant anything yet? Let us know!

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