Spring is in the Air

Today was a really pretty, warmish weekend day, so N and I decided to take R outside and get some yardwork done. We cut up several fallen branches and moved them and many sticks around to the front for the city to pick up, and also picked up several from my neighbor's yard to put out. I trimmed several of the front bushes and cut a couple big branches off of my butterfly bush (more on that later). Then I put the trimmings into my compost bin and turned it for the first time in several months.

It was interesting how stratified my compost pile had become. There was a layer of damp leaves at the top, wet by recent snow and rain and by the addition of several months worth of kitchen scraps. Then there was a layer of dry, warm leaves in the middle that hadn't really been touched since they were put in last fall (A Last Breath of Fall). Finally, there was a cold, wormy, very well broken down layer at the bottom, basically just humus and sticks, from the small pile I started before the fall leaves started to really drop. I am taking this as a sign that the aeration tubes (see Coffee and Compost, II) may have done some good. Anyway, it was good to mix it all up and blend the layers together. Unfortunately, the cafeteria in my building was shut down several months ago for renovations, so my source of free coffee grounds dried up. I guess I'll have to seek out another, now that I see there isn't enough nitrogen in there to break down all the leaves I put in last fall.

Here was a little treat I found waiting for me when I got out there: my spring bulbs are coming up! This bed was actually planted by a previous owner and is just gorgeous for more than a month in the spring. I didn't get any pics last year but I'll try to do better this year. The only problem with it is that it really only blooms in the spring and it's so densely packed that I don't like to disturb it for fear of slicing through a bulb. Last year, as the last of the bulbs stopped blooming, I tried to sneak in some summer-blooming perennials where I could see a blank place. They didn't have enough time to bloom last season, but at least the spot didn't look bare. Hopefully the bulbs won't feel too crowded when the perennials start to wake up.