Preparing for Spring Opening

The stage is set, the lights are coming up, and it’s almost show time.

We are rushing headlong toward our opening. It is coming so fast, as fast as the green shoots emerging from the ground all through the gardens. Our Morningside calendar has filled up with wonderful classes, check them out in events.

This year we are going to be adding a small herb cutting garden for fresh herbs. George is going to be taking some to the market and if people who come here would like fresh herbs we will go out into the garden and cut some. Of course we have to put the garden in first. We do have the spot picked out, we just have to amend the soil, figure out how many of what to put where, and plant them. Hmm Karen, and when is this going to happen? I am a firm believer in miracles, and as miracles go, this one doesn’t seem so out there. Herb cutting garden? Just make it so. Check back later to see if anyone was listening.

I also want to start including a few recipes on these pages and in our class. I love to cook (nothing fancy just what I would call good country fresh food, and the way to get fresh food is from your own yard). So we are putting in our first extensive veggie garden. That should also be fodder for a few laughs here as my small efforts with tomatoes and peppers has been spotty at best. Ornamental gardens I can handle, but the kind of garden I can eat out of, well it is my experience other things want to eat out of it as well. Fences don’t keep blister beetles out of the garden. I learned about crop rotation the hard way last year. This year I hope to fool the little suckers with a new garden location.

George is still working on his rain garden, which is coming into it’s own. He is working on a living willow fedge, which is a cross between a hedge and fence. It is an experiment, but exciting if it works. Our fascination with willows continues...they are cropping up everywhere here. I was thinking next year of having a pussy willow day so everyone who wants to can enjoy them also. Honey bees are enjoying them at the moment. Willows are good bee food as not much else has pollen at the moment. I also love to bring big bunches of all the different kinds of willows (we have about 6) into the house. Happiness is spring, fresh food and willows.

Happy Gardening!