You know it's spring when...

I spent all day in the yard. Or someones yard, anyway - some of it mine, some of it was someone else's. We clipped & dug up black raspberries from a woman in town who didn't want hers anymore. We took about 20 plants. We've planted 10 or so. They were just going to get composted, and now I have to either find room for the remainder that I took, or give them away.

We built a terrace for one set of the plants (4 or so) in the side of the septic system hill. When we dug the plants up, it didn't appear that the roots ran very deep or spread much via roots, so I think it'll be OK. We also planted a set between the yard and the street in an area of the yard that didn't get used but should be perfect for black raspberries. There were already some scraggly wild-sown raspberries growing there anyway. With the compost I added during planting, hopefully these guys will do better. Thus completes step one of my evil perennial fruit garden plan. Step two: find some blueberry bushes. I'm trying to remember whether I ordered some from the annual spring plant sale at the local soil conservation service - I have the paper work on my desk, but its all the way across the room and I am tired. Not used to this kind of work.

We also built an 8' x 4' raised bed in front of the garden. It's about 20" tall. I've put down a layer of newspaper to keep the grass out, and have overlain most of it with one-quarter inch "hardware cloth" - I'll finish the job once I get some more of the wire mesh. This should do a sufficient job of keeping voles out from the bed. Tomorrow or Monday I'll add some 1" PVC pipe sections to the inside of the frame, so that I can insert 1/2" PVC to create a hoop-like enclosure for netting support over the bed.

It was a busy day. It didn't rain much and in the afternoon the sun even came out a little bit. I got a mild sunburn. Amazing how little melatonin I have in my skin this time of year.

It's beyond official - spring is here. I spent all day out in the yard, and it was great.

Oh, and the broccoli seedlings have started to sprout. Wahoo! I'm resisting the urge to stand there & chant "go, go, go."