A Spring Surprise

Our unusually early warm spring weather has lulled me into getting out from behind my computer and into my garden. Living on an acreage means there is always so much to do to prepare for the gardening season. So far, we are ahead! Yay!

I don’t usually clean up my garden, with a few exceptions, until the spring as our snow cover can be sketchy. I figure any dried plant matter that helps to cover the perennials and trap the snow is a bonus so I leave it over the winter. That means fall is fairly low maintenance with the exception of the veggie garden, but spring is a big job.

One really big job that needs to get done this year is to try to deal with the quack grass that has grown aggressively between my loooong row of raspberry bushes. Every year we get in there to remove last year’s productive cane as these older canes will not produce berries on the variety that we have. But this year the grass growing within the row has gotten out of control. I’ve spent several hours each day for the past three just trying to get a handle on it. It’s starting to look good, but secretly I know I’m losing and I’m going to have to come up with a plan moving forward.

While pulling out the unruly and unwelcome grass I came across these tiny little blue scillia bulbs, a really lovely surprise amidst the chaos. I think they’ve actually been there for a few seasons now and I’m trying to figure out how to rescue them from being overtaken. I’d like to move them but have no idea if that would be successful or if I’d just kill them and then be sad.

If anyone knows if they are moveable, I’d sure like to know.

In the meantime I’ll be back at the raspberry patch tomorrow as long as the weather holds. If we get some moisture, and if I can beat back the grass, there should be lots of berries again this year.

Between morning green smoothies and my Prairie Berry Kombucha I am nearly through my frozen berries from last year so I’m looking forward to a fresh bunch to eat, freeze and share with friends!