The first day in the garden
I’ve got a greenhouse bursting with plants, and a high of 66ºF on this sunny day in the last week of March, so that means today is the first day in the garden.
This has been a really frigid winter—especially compared to last year’s rather mild one. My garden has been such a place of respite for me, and sowing seeds these past few months has been such a therapeutic way to pass the time while we’ve been stuck indoors. Truth be told, I’m not a winter person. I’m originally from a climate where snow is a once-in-five-or-ten-years kind of event, and any metal bits on a seatbelt buckle will burn your fingers on a summer day, so acclimating to NYC weather has been…a process.
Especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the winter has felt even more isolating. Needless to say, the garden has been somewhat of a savior and the first new shoots in any season are always exciting.
I have big big big plans this year for the garden—the most drastic of which being the removal of a very large mulberry tree. I don’t take tree removal lightly. I’ve hemmed and hawed about it for quite some time now. It shades much of my growing areas, it sheds mulberries everywhere and creates a bog-like environment (even mushrooms spring up!), there is already a privacy fence, and there is no seating beneath the tree to benefit from it’s shade. So at long last, we had a tree surgeon come today to give us a quote and we’re going to move forward with taking it down. I am so excited for what’s to come in this space—I have really fallen in love with flower gardening and would love to turn the new amount of space (roughly 11ft x 9ft) into a mini cottage garden vibe. Lots of David Austin roses are headed my way, and I’d love to plant a peony, hydrangea, some grasses, and intersperse annuals throughout as well. I really can’t wait!
Anyway, while that transformation gets going, today I started the day by planting out my Charlie’s Angel sweet peas and Blue Anemones into my Blue Flowers Pot. The grape hyacinths are already blooming, and the tulips are also shooting! I planted my lettuces, arugula, and mustard greens transplants in my main front bed. Next to those, I direct sowed 2 spinach varieties and 3 carrot varieties (the birds were eyeing it up though, so we’ll see). After that, I sprinkled 7 different poppies in various areas in the garden. I’m such a sucker for variety, I don’t sow anywhere near an entire packet for any of these, but I love to see the different varieties! The ranunculus are also ready for planting, but I didn’t get to that yet. So for now I’ve left them sitting in their pots in the garden bed for now—maybe tomorrow!
Normally I’d water everything in, but it’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow so I’ll let nature do her work. It was a wonderful day spent outside in the fresh air, getting to know my new plant babies, and sowing the seeds of future harvests.
