The garden centers finally opened this week, but I’ve been busy enough without them. Between a school herb sale, raised bed prep, and trying to clean everything up before they leaf out, plenty is happening.

One: Hügelkultur Lite

Remember the Jerusalem artichoke composting experiment from last month? Most of those stems dried out, but still weren’t close to becoming soil yet. What they did provide was mass — and I had a bed so depleted from two years of onions that the top pallet collar was standing empty. I didn’t have the soil to fill it and didn’t have the energy to dig into half-frozen compost heaps, so: hügelkultur lite. Dried stems went in, a bag of soil went over them, and now those stems can decompose peacefully under a crop of Superschmelz and Delikatess Blauer kohlrabi. (Austrosaat seeds, by way of Bloomling.)

Two: The Herb Barrel Guardian

The barrel has been trimmed, topped off, and watered. According to the signs, it used to contain sage, lemon balm, catmint, yerba buena, and oregano. Whether any of them survived two winters of neglect remains to be seen. I’ll give it a few weeks to show signs of life, then replant as needed. This dapper little gentleman is keeping watch in the meantime.

Three: Crocuses (Finally)

They’re up! Purple, white, and a few yellow. Just in time, too — the peacock butterflies are awake and looking for sustenance, and I’ve already had to usher a couple of confused bumblebees out of the house.

I was hoping they’d spread faster than this. Years ago, I saw my mother-in-law’s neighbor’s lawn in spring nearly carpeted in crocus, a sea of purple. That’s the dream. This is… not yet the dream. Larger bags of bulbs, this autumn, everywhere I can fit them.

Four: Seeds in the Ground

Two more beds were planted this week. The first got Red Russian kale (Alsagarden) and Cavolo Nero ‘Black Magic’ (Seedaholic), interspersed with Zlata golden radishes — seeds saved from our 2023 crop, originally from Magic Garden Seeds. The radishes will be ready to harvest just as the kale starts actually growing, which is the whole point of interplanting fast and slow crops.

The second bed is more experimental: Harres Maelde orache (Atriplex hortensis, ordered from Nordgen — the Nordic Genetic Resource Center, where you go when you want heritage Scandinavian cultivars) and Burpee’s Golden beetroot, also saved from our 2023 crop, originally from Nelson Garden. The orache is new to me; it’s an old-fashioned salad green that supposedly handles our short growing season well. Better than our cursed spinach situation at least. We’ll see.

Five: The Herb Haul

My son’s school had an herb sale this morning — seedlings the kids grew themselves, sold to raise funds. (There’s a story about that school garden, for another day.) I came home with chives, thyme, oregano, sweet basil, and lemon basil. They’re living in my kitchen for now, since it’s still a bit cold for these greenhouse babies to be outside overnight.

Six: First Color

And because no spring is complete without a pop of color: the first pansies of the season. A dozen in shades of blue and yellow, soon to live in planters on the terrace. It’ll actually look like spring around here once they’re planted.

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Thanks for visiting — see what the rest of the SoS crew is up to over at Jim’s page!