Spring gardening, of course

What is it about spring that makes my sap rise, as it were? I wake up with a certain excitement. Can't wait to see and feel the light, survey my kingdom from the windows of the house while I prepare coffee and wait for the day to warm (and do domestic indoor tasks before losing myself to the garden).

Each spring in the high desert is unique. I believe intermountain areas are always something less than predictable. This year it has been quite cold and very dry - no spring rains. Nonetheless, my own little paradise is lush with green and colorful flowers. Never before have the orchards and bulbs been so effusive in their bloom. No matter that a really cold night (20 just yesterday morning!) will likely literally nip in the bud any chance of fruit. Still, the colors of white, pink, blush are fantastic in clouds against the green of the orchard clover and the blue of the spring sky, and the fragrance is overwhelming. The narcissus this year is outstanding as are the tulips. In fact, the perennial beds are truly gorgeous. Of course, I have sprinklers going most days to give them the moisture they crave.

Having broken my ankle a year ago in February, I lost last spring so the work of weeding the perennial beds has been twice the normal this year. That has been one huge task. I give my effort to the perennial beds early in the season because once I begin the vegetable garden it takes most of my time until I get it up and self-sustaining. Flowers are the food for my soul and make the large expanse of tree-shaded lawn so enjoyable in the heat of summer.

In the vegetable garden I have now tilled three times, to get rid of all the weeds that had taken advantage of my disability last year (I did have a garden, but it was not up to my usual standard). Lettuces and spinach I planted mid-August of last year are thriving for fresh salads each day. I have set up scaffolding for pole peas and beans and the peas have been planted and are now seedlings. Between the rows on each side of the scaffolding I put my brassica family members, who appreciate the shade the peas provide to keep them cool while they get established. After the heat of summer spells doom for the peas, I will remove the string and scaffolding to let the Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbages have the full width of the row and will put flowers among them to repel cabbage moths. In that part of the garden I also have a wide row of mixed lettuces, spinach, chard, beets, carrots, parsnips and radishes. I just mix them together and use plenty of radish seed, which matures early and marks the rows as well as providing a gentle loosening of the soil as I remove them, which benefits the other seedlings left behind. The lettuces mature quickly and don't suffer summer's heat, so they are removed (except for those I leave to go to seed) and the root crops have the full bed in which to mature. I plant green onion sets here and there to repel root maggots and just generally enhance the health of the bed. I mulch with straw very heavily on the walking paths and that part of the garden is mostly done except for watering and a little weeding here and there.

Elsewhere in the garden I have set out all my tomatoes, with walls of water to protect them from both cold and wind. Along the west side of the tomatoes I have scaffolding for pole beans to protect the plants from the harsh afternoon sun. I have found this to be very helpful with tomatoes in this high desert area of extremely hot summer sun. Among the tomatoes I will plant cosmos, sunflowers, borage and alyssum, all of which contribute to good health for the tomatoes by attracting good insects in addition to looking very pretty indeed. All my tomatoes are heirloom tomatoes, so they are growing on tall towers to facilitate their upward growth (after all, tomatoes really are vines) which I will stop by pinching off the ends when they have started setting fruit as well as reaching the tops of the towers.

I have planted six more trees this spring, one of them a Bing cherry. I also planted five more grapes and will construct an arbor for them of stock panels, which I rescued from the bank of the creek where they hung up after a flood some years ago.

Asparagus is thriving just now and eaten fresh or lightly steamed every day. Of course I have lovely greens from what I call my "cool garden" (an area that receives more shade than other parts and is ideal for those things that prefer cooler growing conditions). Strawberries are getting a blossom here and there and I am giving them plenty of water, as well as doing some weeding daily as bindweed will be the scourge of my garden all my years on this place. It is especially vigorous in my raspberries and that is another daily project. A little here, a little there. That's how I get it all done without boredom or overusing one set of muscles.

Today it is time to set out all the pepper and eggplant seedlings I started and get them covered for protection from wind and cold (I invented a little "hot cap" for this purpose using those plastic bags from shopping that seem to proliferate once two or more are gathered together). I also have a large number of herb seedlings and plans to expand my herb garden as well as educating myself more fully on medicinal herbs and their preparations for use (I have a number of very good books).

For one such as I, nothing is this world except family can compare to gardening for its fulfillment in every way and I am grateful to have a family that shares that enthusiasm.