PNW Spring Gardening, March 28, 2016

I wanted to present some views of how I deal with early spring gardening challenges, I'm sure it only scratches the surface.;-)  Today I am linking with-

Today's flowers hosted by Denise

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

I'd Rather B' Birdin' hosted by Hootin' Anni'

In a Vase on Monday hosted by Cathy

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

Ideally I should have mulched all my grow beds with leaves last fall, but it didn't get done much because last year I injured my knees in the spring, pulling a large Rubbermaid cart uphill heavily loaded with branches, work I have for 22 years here, with lots of cedar trees that continually grow downward to modestly cover their knees.  Then July 4 I severely injured my R knee, it would not bend nor bear much weight, while trying to pull up a buried soaker hose.  All the heavy gardening and/or age and arthritis has eroded the cartilage in my knees.  I had to slowly recover flexibility and strength over 3 months.  I took supplements that helped so every week I could lift my foot a little more.  I wore braces on both knees and used walkers, I limited my gardening activities severely to the level I could tolerate and still grow my vegetables and flowers, and watered and weeded a new lawn in a large area.

My husband built me a handy gardening seat so I could sit and scoot along a row, which is nice for my knees.  The box flips for a flat sitting surface.  The handles help me push up.  It is heavy to push around though, but great for working on. long rows.

At the 3 month point I stopped wearing the braces which I decided were becoming an irritant, and could walk normally, but not completely pain-free.  But over winter with lots of rest and without the gardening chores, I am pretty much pain-free as well; I swim and can walk fast.  The challenge is to see if I can restrict my activities to what my knees can handle.

So back to gardening, one of my most useful tools is the plastic tunnel cover, 18' long.  I use it when I start working up beds to keep the nearly constant rain off my beds, fall to spring is our rainy season which can mean rain daily.

I will use them to dry beds before planting tomatoes and later vegetables too, and put them on the weeded soil to keep the soil 10º warmer so I can plant earlier.

I have been cutting weeds off with a knife or a hand mattock which gets out roots better, or a shovel for deep weeds.  Formerly I would have mattocked a bed in a single session, but feel like swinging the heavy mattock (2.5lb or little over a kilo)  is not good for my knees.  I once had a Mantis tiller but it wrapped all the weeds around the tines and was a mess to clean out, and bucked like a bronco.  Ouch.   And I read that tillers ruin the soil structure and cause hardpan.  So here I am.

I'm making progress, I got a strip done and planted peas, fava beans, and sweet peas.  I'm experimenting with times, I also planted rows of these on February 10.  They took nearly a month to come up but are growing now, though I had to fill in where some did not grow.

I will compare the two groups for which time is more effective.  BTW I grow what is called snap peas, they have thick tender edible pods and fill up with nice peas.  You can eat the whole thing raw in salads or cooked.  I've also grown snow peas, but while they are all edible, Asians usually pick the wide pods before the seeds develop for stir fries, and later they are still edible but can get stringy or tough, so I like snap peas better, I'm growing Super Sugar Snap and Sugar Snap for taller vines, and Cascadia, Sprint, Sugar Ann, and Sugar Daddy for short vines.

I'm beginning to pick the top flower buds from the kale plants planted last July.  They are very tender, and picking makes them branch from all the axils so next time there will be several per plant, which continue as long as I keep them picked, then I let them flower for the bees.

Now for my finds in the garden for In a Vase on Monday, lots of flowers are blooming now, but I just had to pick some white Hyacinths, and could find some blue for a good companion, a Pulmonaria, here in my gold trimmed pony passed along from my MIL-

Easter gives us a reminder and new beginning of grace every year, making me think of the promise inside an egg of new life-

I was pleased to see the Hyacinths return this spring when some other bulbs didn't.  The fragrance is wonderful.

The Pulmonarias are a wonderful long-lasting addition to a shade garden, coming up in spring with their gorgeous variable silvery patterned foliage, and self-sowing with unique new patterns, plus a range of colors from purple-

to the pink Mrs. Moon-

Here is a fairly new shade bed that I find very satisfying because the shade seems to discourage a lot of pesky weeds-

In addition to the Pulmonarias, the lace-edged Primulas are blooming-

The second species of Junco that comes to my deck, the Dark-Eyed or Slate-Colored Junco, is more abundant now-

What early vegetable gardening do you enjoy?    -Hannah

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