Is Riz

Post 70
Spring came with Easter this year, as if the daffs were waiting for their cue of "He is Risen."

Cleanup has ended and I am even getting mulch down at about the right time. Which is early for me. I have usually mulched late (or--garden scandal--not at all, relying on close planting instead,) because I have wanted all my seeds to get a good start. I need the seeds to get a good start, both the self-seeders and the ones I plant in late March.

For me, it is essential that the seedlings prosper. As I have explained in an earlier post, which includes all the how-to info,  Lead with Seed to a Flowery Mead-- the look I enjoy in the garden is partially created by the dashed-around appeal of haphazardly strewn, old-fashioned annuals. It gives the garden an unpredictability factor that keeps it new for me, and I hope others as well.

Also--I do not spend a lot of money on annuals, which are only a short-term investment at best. Seeds are cheap, and if done right, more effective. So this year's experiment will teach me something I cannot learn from books.

Sometimes it is only as you garden that you understand what the questions are that you need answered. And that only you can answer some of them. Books help, but at a certain point, your own style will take you past books into uncharted territory. If you're doing it right.

One of my favorite unintended consequences this spring is that I seem to have made a panorama of New York State in the rock garden.

I swear, I did not put that stick there, but am still amused by how well it mimics the New York State Thruway.

Well--that's about all going on in the garden right now. And so it is time to ...

for now.