Normally, this time of year, there's still too much snow on the ground to do very much gardening. This year has been a nice change and there are even tulips and hyacinths peeking up in the garden. I am waiting for the soil to dry out enough to dig (all clay) then I'll start redoing my garden beds. I'm pretty new to gardening, but I'm going to have to dig out a lot of grass and put in edgers this year!

I have a lot of organic amendments to add to the soil this year (thanks to the horses) so that will make it nice for the roses that will be arriving in May and June. I won't be able to prune the roses I already have, for at least another month.

The kitchen garden will probably go in next month, so no peas planted until April. That's still pretty early here. I'm also planning to start more vegetables from seed this year for a bigger variety and to save a little money. I'm planning to try a little of everything, to see what grows well with our short, hot summers.

I don't have any pictures, but I hope to take some soon, so I'll have before and after shots of the new garden spaces :)

My spring ritual is waiting for the snow to melt. Then it goes like this:

I check my patch of double-bloodroot. It's never there when I first check. So I worry. Did the voles get it? Did it just give in over winter? Oh, please let it be there. So then I go out a few days later. Still nothing. So I worry. Oh, what if they didn't make it (wringing hands). So I go out a few days later. Nothing. More worrying. I go out again and there they are poking their little leaves out of the soil! YEAH! They have survived yet another year of vole torture!!

Maybe this year I should wait to check on them a few weeks later than I uaually do. That would surely cut down on the worrying I do over them!! LOL!!

I'm in a much warmer zone, so at this time, I go around all my existing beds and weed, mulch, prune, and plant anything that needs filling in. This takes me several weeks!

Then I go to the garden centers weekly and pick up plants I shouldn't, but squeeze them in somewhere. And, now that it's getting warmer, I start my daily ritual of walking around the garden and looking at every plant each morning.

Then I decide what new design I am going to do for the year and start that project. :) That usually takes me through July!

My fav ritual is hanging up my spring wreath! Its a pretty white dogwood wreath, and to me it starts my season. I think next week ill put it up!
Then i like to clean off the side porch, hang my windchimes, and put my little garden statues back in their place. This year i collected alot more, so i have to search for homes for them!
I also spend alot of time nursery hopping! I'll spend every last penny i have extra from my week, just for a new plant! My funniest situation was when i was buying a couple clearance dollar plants at lowes. I had to run to the car and dig for change under the floormat! I cant pass up a garden center without stopping!!
I also cant wait to start enjoying my morning coffee or tea in the garden! Its still too cold.
This is a fun thread!

I am also enjoying this thread. This is my first spring with a garden, so I don't have any year-to-year rituals, but I do find myself developing some daily rituals. I have been spending any free time just putzing around with pruners in hand doing some late winter/early spring clean up. I carry a bucket and painstakingly pick fall leaves out of the mulch and also look for new growth on all of my perennials to see if they have survived the winter. Most have been obliging with encouraging signs! I have also been watching my fall-planted bulbs emerging millimeter by millimeter.

Yesterday it actually reached 63 degrees, which was soooo welcome after a very unusual winter where we got 6.5 feet of snow. There is actually still snow on the ground in places despite the warm temps. With the good weather, I put my new chair cushions on my front porch rockers and sat outside with my garden catalogs and imagined what my gardens will look like in a couple of months.

Like others, I also can't pass a garden center without stopping. I've been swept up with winter sowing, so I spend time doing that, too. Fun, fun, fun! Never thought I would feel this way about gardening. I can tell it's one of those passions that just becomes a part of who you are.

Glad I have this forum to visit to help me with my garden obsession!

Lisa

Annuals. Last year I did the same thing, but in the hoophouse. I started 84 containers of seed last night. 36 six-packs and 48 8/9 ounce cups. They're on a rack this year, covered in plastic to provide a little warmth and protecting from the rain. In a few weeks, all this stuff will come back into the garage. And I'll have nothing but plants and blooms in the yard.

{{gwi:369600}}

The other ritual includes shuffling the overwintered plants in and out of the basement as the weather permits. Most of these are cuttings that were taken in the fall or over the winter. I've managed to keep most of them alive. Brugmansias are the most numerous. After a few days of being covered with a white sheet, they become acclimated to the sun and I can leave them uncovered. Right now, I also have my tomato seedlings on there.

{{gwi:643140}}

It's only 52 degrees, but it feels much warmer.

We had a strange winter with virtually no snow at all! The ground is still frozen though so it's difficult for me to walk on. So it'll be another week or two before I can start doing a daily check on emerging foliage. DH said he found a few snowdrops in bloom the other day but I can't get down where they are to check on them. Sometime this week hopefully DH will get a chance to take the big pots of strawberries, blueberries, and garlic out of winter storage in the garage and put them out on the driveway. We picked up the materials on Monday to start building a copper tripod for clematis and next week we'll be meeting with Mario, an iron craftsman, to arrange for him to build a wrought iron tuteur for clematis too. There is almost always a spring construction project for the garden. I don't start many seeds anymore but still do a few. I planted some blue and some white Wave petunias last week and next week I'll probably start a few tomatoes and some night-scented stocks. The other spring ritual is checking the wisteria daily to see if flowerbuds survived the winter and spring frosts.

Woodyoak - I am envious - someone to build to your specs!!!

My rituals have started already - I am on 'sprout/nose' patrol. I have chives and tulips showing already in the SW facing garden against the house. Next will be twig patrol - hopefully the girls next door will come to help - 6 and 8 this year, and I bribe them with popcorn or popsicles.

This will be an odd late spring/early summer for me, as I am having total knee replacement late May. My orthopedic surgeon assures me that the heal time will be quick, so fingers crossed, hopefully it will. I will try to get as much in as possible beforehand. I will try to build hoop houses for peppers and toms...

Nancy.

Nancy - I hope the knee replacement goes smoothly for you! FIL had that done last fall. The first few weeks were a bit rough but he's very happy with the result.

Nancy, it will go well. I know of a couple of people who have undergone knee replacements and bounced back good as new. Just make sure you have prepared your home to make sure you have everything you need on one level. (no stairs). Good luck.

Ianna

I do most of the planning (designing new spaces and picking out plants) over the winter when there is nothing else to do. That way I can get a head start on the projects and not have to wait.

This year has been so warm that I have already cleaned up the beds, gotten rid of the leaves (lol, off the beds but still piled up elsewhere). Yesterday I even started ripping out grass in the front for the new shade bed!
CMK

The snow has mostly melted away in my area and so I just saw my front yard... Yuck. I'm sorely tempted to start clearing away the dead stuff, but another storm is on it's way.. I've to resist until end of the month.

Ianna

What a fun thread! Typically I start walking the gardens and cleaning up leaves and debris from the winter. I search for those first daffodils poking through the mulch.I would be getting ready to plant peas and sweet peas this weekend.

However, this year was the winter from you know where. We still have large, deep snow patches everywhere. The past few days brought us temps in the 50s and low 60s which was nice to melt the snow, now we have lots of mud and puddles. The vegetable garden is a swamp, and we are supposed to have rain for the next few days, so I don't think the peas will go in this weekend.
I'm jealous everyone is getting started, but once the weather changes, the work begins, so now I'll just dream of my new ideas a little longer. I hope to start my spring rituals soon. Wish me luck.
Carol

Actually for those who have had heavy snow this winter - you are going to find to your delight that by summer you will have healthy plants. Unfortunately for us here in Ontario, we suffered a snow drought meaning, by summer we will expect drought, lower water tables and so plants like trees would suffer as a result. We probably won't see the effects until the year following.

Yes Ianna - a friend was listening to CBC (Canadian Public Radio) and some weather lady said it will be a drought year, due to the lack of snow!!! She also predicted a doozy of a storm in ON on the 22nd of March..??? yikes. I will get out this weekend, and try to get the twig pick-up started.

Nancy.

It is finally starting to feel like spring around here! Over the past few days, the snow has been melting, and I can finally see the ground almost everywhere. I finally had time to walk the back yard and see what is getting green. Amazingly, one of my violas was in bloom! It even beat the snowdrops! I also saw a lot of other bits of new green, but that first bloom was the most exciting.