April — showers and a cup…
April started with rain here but we’ve been having rain off and on for days now. Most of the woods are sodden and spongy with wet.
Before April got here with its dampness and rain, March was grey and overcast, and I, I was on the look-out for an April Coffee Cup. I saw many cups that seemed to speak of Spring and sunnier days. There were even lots of cups that seemed to capitalize on Easter with flowers and cute rabbits or carrots or eggs. However, when I finally spied this cup it was over, searching done, this was the bright bit of cheer that would get me through the rain and grey overcasts. So, today is April 3rd and it’s been raining for three days now off and on — this was definitely a good choice. When I bought it I worried about the bobbles on the rim and thought I’d probably dribble all over myself — I do that on a regular bases anyway so not a big problem for me especially since I work at home and can change. But, it’s not a problem, the bobbles don’t leak and I don’t dribble — at least not any more than I usually do when I get engrossed in reading or whatever and somehow miss my mouth.
I’m getting desperate to spend some time in the garden getting it cleaned up and ready. All the rain and the cold/flu I had have put me way behind on getting things set up. Here’s what we’re dealing with:
I’m standing by the tomato buckets which fill one quarter of the herb garden. Behind are the raspberry bushes and the orchard. We managed to get all the old tomato plants pulled up and get the buckets ready for the new plants.
We have been gardening for a couple of years now and have learned a few tricks. We had to move the garden to our tiny bit of lawn because, surrounded by trees, it was the only area with enough sunlight to grow anything. Last year we grew all out tomatoes in buckets. They’re big painting buckets from Lowe’s and Home Depot that we drilled holes in for drainage and pained a deep blue. The reason is that there are lots of critters here abouts and the previous year we planted all the tomatoes in the ground and then had two in buckets and the next day we only had two tomato plants — the ones in the buckets. Last year we planted them all in buckets and managed to keep them all season and had a pretty good harvest too.
In this photo you can see that we started to get the leaves up off the lawn/garden area. We sort of gave up around December and lately, whenever we have the time, it rains. When we’re committed to some appointment and won’t be home, it’s sunny. But to rake we need a couple of dry days and then a dry day to rake. Hopefully this week will see more sunshine but then the saying goes April Showers Bring May Flowers so I have little hope of getting it all done within the next week or two. As long as we get the garden prepared and the vegetable area cleared and turned, I’ll be happy.