jaunthie | It's spring it's spring it's spring...

Way back in Februrary, Jake and I went to the Flower and Garden Show together. While there and wallowing in Early Gardening Fever, we agreed that getting together to help each other in our gardens was a Good Idea. We even went so far as to get out our calendars and schedule two dates in March, one day for working in my garden, one day for working in hers.

Fast-forward into March (and geez, is it just me, or is this year absolutely whizzing by?). The first garden date got cancelled due to weather; it was snowing/sleeting/raining and thoroughly unsuitable. Then I went on vacation, and had deadlines, and stuff, and Jake also had her usual busy life. And the weather continued variable and mostly not suitable for gardening much, particularly on weekends, drat it.

Then came today, our second scheduled gardening date. A day full of sunshine and relatively mild temperatures. A day where we started at Jake's place, digging out Jake's enormous worm composting bin (a bin featuring the Nuclear Caffeinated Earthworms From Hell(TM), thanks to the leftover grounds of Roo's genuinely impressive coffee habit) and dumping wheelbarrows full (yes, entire wheelbarrows full. It's a huge, huge bin) of primo earthworm poo all along her berry beds and throughout the generous expanse of what will be her vegetable garden. We also mixed up one wheelbarrow-full with copious quantities of vermiculite, some bone meal, and a little green sand to make some truly impressive potting soil. We got all the non-composted-enough bedding and the worms back into the bin and the bin put back in place. Jake also plotted out part of her garden for and with A, the child of one of her friends, and had A planting iris rhizomes and scattering flower seeds and getting hands dirty, all part of the initiation into the Crazed Gardening Club. We both hope A catches the bug.

So that was a couple of hours of work. And then we were done with everything Jake had planned for the day. It just goes to show you what two people can get done; digging out the bin by herself last year was apparently an epic all-day job.

So what do we do? Kick back and enjoy the sunshine?

Of course not. We packed up and drove over to my place, to start work on all the things needing doing around my garden. Of which I have many, many more than Jake; I'm much more behind on gardening chores than she is, and I have some ambitious plans for my garden this year, including building several new beds. So we spent several hours hacking out sod from the soon-to-be front fence bed and cutting away dead growth from various plants around the fence line (between the sod and the trimmings we filled two yard waste bins) and planting the last of the bulbs and things I bought back in Februrary. Yes, I should have planted them before this, and no, I didn't get to it, and hopefully it will be okay anyway. Wild and Japanese ginger are supposed to be tough, as are chives and ornamental alliums. We'll have to just hope and see.

I am fairly tired now, and I know I'm going to feel some of this tomorrow. But oh, it was so much fun, and oh so worth it! And we've already put two more gardening dates onto the calendar (weather permitting) for April.

Whoo-hoo!