I know, I'm at high risk of becoming the "girl who cried spring," but I would like to say that I think that the new season is really, truly and officially in full swing here in Vermont and I am beyond happy. I know I've said this before. But then it snowed again. Anyway, I can't believe that I had somehow forgotten how very much I enjoy the sun. It is good, good stuff, folks.
I came home from work today to find our landlord out in the yard, taking down the double-pane storm windows and putting up the screens. If this isn't a sure sign of impending summer, I don't know what is. A couple of weeks back, he had also sent someone out to trim the hedges that line our back patio and separate it from the rest of the yard. At first I was a little sad about this; they had been high enough to provide some really nice seclusion for the patio, which I liked. However, I soon realized that there were some nice side effects to the trimming.
One unexpected benefit was the exposure of the above patch of ground. It sits just below our screened-in back porch and used to be entirely overgrown with tall, leaning bushes. Because of that, it never occurred to me that it might be usable growing space. The rest of our yard is huge, but it entirely shaded by large, old trees and is also mostly on a hill. Less that stellar for growing much of anything, really. We were talking about all of this when our landlord mentioned that when his family lived here they used to keep the bushes in this little patio space trimmed back and had it planted as a small vegetable garden. Hello!
So, this is the "before" picture, all. I hope very much to have an "after" available for your bemused viewing by Sunday evening, at the latest. Dug, composted and planted. The whole deal. We've got a community garden plot up the road as well, but the opportunity to grow a bit in my own backyard? Yeah, I'm about as excited as I get...
