Wow, this forum is really hopping! It's great to see so much action. There are so many new threads, I wish I could read them all and chit chat all night!

So I was out taking advantage of the 70+ degree weather today in the vegetable garden. I never did much garden clean up in the fall, so I pulled out all the old veggies, trimmed back perennial herbs, hubby repaired the compost bin :)

I have a very thick layer of mulch all over my raised beds: straw, pine needles and leaves. Should this be removed so the soil can warm? It is very cold under the mulch and even frozen where I pulled out the clumps of dead plants in some spots.

I was very excited to see some green today! Parsley, baby chives, oregano, sage, mint, garlic sprouts. I planted a bunch of the plants I got from the fall swap in a temporary bed in the veggie garden and some of those have some new leaves, too.

Spring is coming!

Charlene