Early Spring Chores and Pictures

We've had spring-like weather the last few days.  Heck, yesterday it was 80 degrees!  That is verging on summer as far as I am concerned.  I had to break out my sleeveless t-shirt and shorts!  Well, maybe not the shorts just yet.  But, it was a beautiful day and we got a lot done outside.  We planted the elderberry bushes that we bought a couple of weeks ago from 360 Farms near Webbers Falls, OK.

Elderberries are native to Oklahoma and are high in antioxidants.  They make excellent jellies and their flowers can be dried and used for tea.

I also mulched our blackberry bushes using leaves we had collected last fall.  This normally eliminates most of the weeds in the blackberry bed and keeps moisture in the soil.

Finally, we rebuilt our household compost pile.  This time we just used t-posts and wire.  Tom used part of a pallet as a "gate".  It is just wired to a couple of the posts and will be easy to remove when we are ready to move the contents of the pile out to our large-scale compost making effort out in the "compost lot".  See this entry for information on that:  Making Compost .

Rebuilding this compost pile was necessitated because Tom hit the old one with the tractor.   It was a more elaborate affair that consisted of wooden frames covered with wire.  It was getting in need of repair anyway.  The new one will work just as well and only took a fraction of the time to build.

While I was out in the garden, I took the opportunity to take pictures of signs of life that are sprouting up.  Here's a picture of one of the garlic beds.

I also noticed that my chives are coming out of dormancy.

We've been growing lettuce in our hoophouse all winter.  But, Tom has begun planting it outside in the garden now.  Here are some tiny lettuce plants he set out yesterday.  We will cover these with a light row-cover if it gets really cold, but otherwise, they will be fine and ready to pick in a few weeks.

There were other signs of life in the garden, as well.  Like this dandelion.

And this henbit.

Even if dandelion and henbit are considered weeds, to me they are still beautiful flowers and are a welcome sight after the cold, overcast days of winter.