Earth Day at MTHTZ 2017 actually turned into an Earth Week. There was so much to do and so little time. I had a few days off work so the pressure was on to get as much done as possible.
First on the list was to get a few more early crops planted in the garden. So far here in my zone 5a, potatoes, onions, shallots, peas, carrots, beets, asparagus, and radishes have been a safe bet to plant.
I have also begun to harden off the plants I started from seed to plant outdoors in the next 2 weeks or so. This has been a bit of a challenge as it has been pretty windy and those tender baby plants aren’t used to standing up to those conditions. But they are still hanging in there getting more exposure to the outdoors each day.
Next up was to plant 3 baby apple trees that I grafted this year. About 1 month ago I attended an apple tree grafting class at Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah Iowa. After spending 4 weeks in my basement refrigerator, they were ready to plant outdoors. I did this in my vegetable garden where they will spend the next year at which time I will transplant to a permanent spot. Time will tell if the grafts took. I am hopeful though.
The expert giving the class who has several decades of experience says he can typically count on an 80% success rate. This being the first time for me, I would be thrilled in even one survives. I already have an apple tree that I planted as a bare root tree last year. I just need one more for cross pollination. Fingers crossed!
I also spent 2 full days just cleaning out all the flower beds around here and rejuvenating the mulched areas I have. The mulch I buy is from our local county compost facility. It is delivered to my house in a big dump truck. I only do this every other year simply because of the cost involved and just fluff it up a bit on the off year to make it look like new. While there are pros and cons to this, at least I know there are no harmful, artificial dyes to leach into the ground. This was pretty intensive work but it feels good to have this accomplished before May.
I pruned bushes and shrubs to keep them healthy. The trimmings went into the compost bins which I have been turning every few days to get it going.
I thoroughly enjoyed my viburnum bush until the blooms completely faded yesterday. This is one of the most amazingly fragrant specimens known to me. I love, love, love it!
I transplanted 6 rogue baby hostas to a new area in my yard. Every year it seems I have a few hosta plants that just randomly start growing near the mother plants. Since hostas are not cheap I just keep transplanting those babies to new areas increasing my gardens for free.
I also transplanted a few other perennials that have managed to spring up in random places. I love gardening for free!
(Photo from last fall)
I pulled the geraniums out that I had in storage from last year. It’s looking hopeful that a few will have sufficient life left to use again this year. See my post on overwintering geraniums for more on this.
I also checked on the canna bulbs from last year. They are still firm and will be planted soon. More free gardening!
I managed to fix my leaky faucet in the bathtub my self. No plumber required thanks to YouTube.
And, as always, I continue to recycle which means fewer items in the landfill.
That’s all I could manage to fit in during these few days off. So now it’s your turn. What did you do in honor of Earth Day?
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© 2017, Pamela. All rights reserved.
