Pages

▼

Thursday, March 30, 2017

First cut, then rake - sometime

Limited garden time and relatively small weather windows (times when it's not raining or sopping wet) means that my spring garden cleaning happens a little differently this year.


Usually it's chop or pull or prune, then rake, pick up, and trek to the compost pile. Not this year though.



***


This year it's been mostly chop, then come back the next day (or longer) and pick up the refuse. This was most apparent yesterday when I tackled the two largest patches of groundcover bamboos, a dozen or so smaller ornamental grasses, and my three Miscanthus -- including the big one.

Exhausting! So raking will have to happen some other day.



I was thinking it would be today, but another thunderstorm just came through.


There are still large bamboo culms that need to be carried back to the compost pile too...


One bright side of putting it all on the compost pile when dripping wet: much faster decomposition!


Is the weather causing your springtime gardening to stray from your plan too?

.

4 comments:

  1. http://whatsitgarden.blogspot.comMarch 30, 2017 at 6:47 PM

    I've had the same problem here in the PNW . I have managed to rack enough up and fill every available plastic pot to overflowing after each session !

    ReplyDelete
  2. danger gardenMarch 31, 2017 at 12:02 AM

    Yep. Miserably slow clean up here, because of the wet weather. However I could never leave piles around the garden like this 1) don't have the space, and 2) wind...don't you have wind there?

    ReplyDelete
  3. outlawgardenerMarch 31, 2017 at 9:24 AM

    Like you, Linda, and Danger, it's been a slow clean up in my garden. When I do have a bit of time, working in a soggy cold garden doesn't sound like an appealing way to unwind, (although in reality it would be) so I've been lazy and taken naps instead.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AlanMarch 31, 2017 at 1:55 PM

    Linda: I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have an almost unlimited "dumping ground" behind my yard!

    Loree: We do have wind, but the wet stuff doesn't blow around much. I do get some of my neighbor's oak leaves and he gets some of mine (various types), but it's not a problem.

    Peter: below average temps would mean that I wouldn't have anything to clean yet -- we've been opposite as you probably know.

    ReplyDelete