A Spring without Rain...

It has been a long time since we've had such a dry spring.  And, such a cold one too.  Everything is extremely late, but, now just into summer, we have our spring.  With all this talk of global warming, we were beginning to think that we should be getting ready for a deep freeze. 

The container gardens were released from indoor captivity to play again in the Garden, the seeds that had been planted have started to grow, and the first and second seedings of grass (I ran out of seed - too much winterkill) are starting to sprout.  

With the rain, the lawn that survived the winter is growing like a weed, and fortunately not like a dandelion weed (although, there are still some around that I haven't managed to get out yet).  

We have a new visitor to the garden this year - probably because the field behind us was newly plowed, after a few year of just growing a hay crop.  The new visitor, as yet unseen, really enjoyed my peas shoots, and the single blooming hollyhocks - so I have a new pot stuffed with pea seeds - it will be interesting to see how well this works;  at least it can't be any less successful than the recent garden episode!

GREEN, GREEN, GRASS SHOULD BE GREEN

Brown Lawn spots are evident everywhere in our neighborhood. The ones on our lawn are there for two reasons (maybe three if you count two dogs as two reasons!) ... the other reason is a particularly hard winter. A winter that started early, with rain that turned to ice, then got really cold, really fast and then stayed that way for A Long Long Time. Just one of the reasons that we have been so anxious for a change in the weather.

Spring is always such a busy time in the garden, BUT I haven't got limitless hours in my day to just spend gardening, so over the years I have developed a few quick solutions that have worked for me.

The goal over the next week is sprinkle some grass seed mixed with some topsoil, or compost - whichever I have on hand that's ready to use! - on the thin or dead areas in the lawn, tamp it down, and make use of the wonderful spring rain to help to sprout the new grass. Next to fall, spring is the best time to do lawn repair, as long as it doesn't get too hot too quickly.... at the moment we are still cool enough and wet enough that I won't likely have to water the seed as well, but I can keep an eye on things for the next 2 weeks or so to make sure that new grass takes hold.

More about lawn care soon.