Experiments and Results

So my three loyal readers out there may remember this post, where to the befuddlement of my neighbors I spent a sunny September afternoon drilling holes in my lawn. The idea was to have lovely little patches of crocus strewn across my turf at a time of year when the grass still appears dead, so I have something to look at while waiting for the rest of the garden to wake up. This was the result:

Crocus 'Ruby Giant'

Not too shabby, right? They were up and blooming almost the instant the snow was gone. While the patch looks a little sparse right now, I have high hopes that it will fill out in the next couple years, like some of my other crocus patches have done:

In other spring-time news, the primulas are up and running right on time, and are giving a heck of a show this year:

Primula elatior, grown from seed, year 3

Primula elatior, close up

I usually pride myself on growing most of my veggies and many of my annuals and perennials from seed, but alas, this year I was just plain lazy. I think I started a few leeks, a couple herbs, some cobaea vines for work, and that was it. So I'll be spending a little more moola than usual this spring getting starts from my local nurseries. But there's a silver lining in that if I have to go shopping, I'd rather be shopping for plants more than anything else. (Except possibly books. It depends on the season.)

While I've failed in the seed sowing department this spring, I've been rockin' in the mulch department. I've heard from numerous gardeners up here that shredded birch leaves make a great mulch for perennial beds. Some people spend a lot of money on chippers, shredders, or mulching mowers to shred their leaves, but as I'm cheap as well as quite attached to my dinky little human-powered push mower, I needed different options. That's when I stumbled upon the FLOWTRON leaf shredder! Just saying it is fun...Flowtron!...but it's even more fun to use. I got this strange version of a weed whacker for a fraction of what a mulching mower or chipper costs. It's fast, saves my back, and makes fairly uniform mulch for my flower beds and compost pile. User beware, however....it's noisy, can't handle twigs, and will get you really, really, really dusty. Eye protection and a dust mask are a must!

Last but not least, I planted some daffodils under my lilac tree, and think it's one of my prettiest bulb plantings to date:

Notice the lovely leaf mulch? 

Wish I could claim credit for these beauties, but I think the plant breeders probably have more to do with their success than I ever did.

That's all my news for Spring 2012. How are your gardens doing? Did everything make it? Did the moose eat it all? Any new plant varieties we all need to hear about? Please feel free to share!