The rule of thumb in New England is to wait until Memorial Day weekend to plant anything in the ground. The last frost usually happens around this time. Right now, May 31st feels like a world away.

Like most of my plant loving friends in Maine, getting through February and March can seem like an eternity. To stay upbeat, I start daydreaming about spring. I think about the sound of the snow melting from my roof and the sound of birds chirping in the morning. I think about that muddy spring smell and about all of the plants and flowers I want to grow.

This will be my 2nd spring in my house. Last year, I spent most of my days inside, painting, cleaning… and ….painting. At times, when I felt restless, I would go outside with a pick axe and start digging up the bittersweet vines that had been left to take over the west side of my yard after years of neglect. Somehow, this made me feel more productive.

I did make time to add some garden beds with fresh loam and compost from Country Fare but this year, I’ll be going full bore.

To get a head start, I decided to build some raised beds. Norton Stoneworks generously offered the skills of Brandon Giles to build the cedar raised beds for me- I just had to supply the wood.

Brandon was able to use the 8 and 10 foot cedar boards I bought and make even cuts so there wasn’t any waste. He also reused scrap 4” x 4” Alaskan Yellow Cedar blocks for the corner pieces. We had a lot of it left over from the fence posts we installed last summer.

In early May, I’ll place another order for several yards of their 50/50 (half loam/half compost) blend. I’ll lay down a layer of cardboard and newspaper, then add the 50/50 blend to each bed.

In the meantime, I’m getting set up to start germinating my cut flower seeds inside.

SEND FLOWERS

Getting My Garden Ready

Some Flowers I Will Grow

A Family of Gardeners