Well, it's that time of year. The garden is starting to wake up and boy, is it an exciting time for us. We had a really long winter; super cold and lots of snow in the Northeast, so the first signs of spring are always welcomed with open arms. The snow has finally disappeared and the temps are starting to warm. We are still not out of the "no frost" zone, so we have to be careful of what we plant in the next few weeks.
On our first day out there, I snapped some pictures of what the garden looks like right after the last of the snow has melted. What a sad, sad looking garden (even though we were sooo excited the snow was finally gone for next few months!) it still looked sad.
We did find that the garlic is starting to poke through the soil so that is a good sign. Last fall we planted 48 garlic bulbs in one of our raised beads, so we are guaranteed lots of fresh garlic in just a few short months. We will hang them to dry and have garlic to enjoy throughout the fall/winter.
The sage in the herb garden has seen better days, and I am hoping that it starts to drop it's dead leaves and show signs of some green growth. We started this sage plant about 5 years ago in a little pot and it's grown wonderfully. This was a tough winter though, so I am a little nervous.
The one plant we tried to save over the winter (covered with burlap) was our curry plant (Helichrysum italicum) which is a flowering plant of the daisy family. The curry plant can be used for medicinal purposes, but is not the same as the curry tree or curry spice mixture. The leaves to me smell like maple syrup and I love to rub the leaves between my fingers for a sweet smell in the hot summer months. The deer also do not go near this plant which is a great help to our herb garden.
As you can see, the compost is not doing much of anything over the winter months except feeding the local deer that come around. I find them often fully emerged in the compost enjoying the scraps from the previous night's veggie meal.
Fingers crossed that our blueberry bushes bloom and fruit this year but last year we did not have luck with them. I'm not sure what happened but they may not be getting enough sun, so we may need to replant them in a sunnier area. And our wall of lavender is not looking bad at all, and I'm hoping to see some buds on it in the next few weeks. It's a great plant to have around as it attracts TONS of bees, which help pollinate our veggie/herb gardens.
And lastly, the newest addition to our outdoor area, a new (old) wood burning oven. Matt picked this up from a Craig's List ad and felt it would be a great addition to the garden. We need to clean it up a bit, but I think it will be an awesome way to keep us warm on those chilly spring/fall evenings and will also allow us to cook some things right on top of it. Good thing we have a nice collection of cast iron pans we can throw right on top of the stove and cook while we are getting things done in the garden.
Thanks for checking out the early April Mayernik Garden. Stay tuned for updates bi-monthly on what's growing and blooming in the garden.