Weekday Rambles

It is SO NICE outside!  The sun feels glorious!  The wind is starting to pick up a little, but that’s ok.  Sunny and warm are all that’s required.

It’s so nice out, I can do this:

That’s right – nothing to look at outside FOR SURE, but a nice spring breeze feels great in the house.

I also took another stroll through the front garden to peep at some of the sprouts.

Mums (again):

Daffodils (again):

Crocuses:

Also, I just investigated the price of mulch.  You can get it from the home stores for about $4 per 2 cubic feet.  A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, so you’d need about 14 bags.  That’s $56 for a cubic yard.  (And actually, most of the mulch advertised online was $5 per bag – which would be $70 for a cubic yard, though I’m sure there will be spring sales, so I used the $4 price point I saw on a couple of the brands.)

OR

You could order it in bulk.  A local landscaping company around here sells shredded cedar mulch for $45 per cubic yard (not including delivery).  So if you have access to a truck or trailer and can pick it up yourself, bulk is the way to go.  I think I might have access to a truck sometime this spring (Hi Mom!) so I think that’s my plan.

Other random tidbits:

• I’m saving plain cardboard right now to use as weed barrier.  Same concept as the newspaper approach I mentioned last fall.  It also works if you need to kill some grass for a new garden bed.
• Our compost bin is chock darn tootin’ FULL – what about yours? I’m so happy for these warm days that will shrink the pile so I can add even more to it.
• Plus, our yard cart (from the city) is also full – of leaves and clematis trimmings.  My plan is to dump it all out in the yard right before the first mowing of the season, and have Nick empty the mower bag throughout the garden for some easy early mulch.
• I set up my calendar for yard fun today.  The last average frost here is May 15, so I’m going to plant the tomatoes on May 1st, safely within the wall ‘o’waters.  Two weeks before that, I’ll unpack all the planters from the garage, (it will be SO nice to get the garage a little cleaner), and get them outside and full of potting soil.  No garden dirt for them this year.  That means….I only have about one more month until the action starts
• Meanwhile, I’m thinking some spring window cleaning is in order soon.  They are filthy!  The screens, the glass, and the blinds.  Yuck, yuck, and yuck.

What’s on your spring to-do list?