In which preparations for spring begin

Yesterday the weather was warm and sunny. It seemed like a good day to dig. Having gotten a little giddy at the sight of so many racks of spring bulbs at Home Depot a few weeks ago, I now have the task of finding homes for all of them. The white jonquils with the orange cups have been planted into the daylilly bed, but until yesterday that was as far as I had gotten.

Chris was home, and so I engaged his help with the digging. We dug a triangularish bed under the mailbox, a place that we had discussed needing planting. We discovered that it was another of the overgrown beds in the yard, and of course the corrugated green edging had to be dug up. We expanded a bit beyond the previous bed's dimensions, giving it curvy ends. Like the rest of the bed recovery projects that we've done at this house, the sod is thick and overgrown, and required one person to break it and one to knock the dirt out of the mat. It's hard work.

It took the afternoon, and as the sun was setting, I watered in crocuses and tulips and the two mums that we bought last fall but never got in the ground. There are still daffodils to naturalize under the plum trees in the back yard, and a bag of Princess Irene tulips that need a showcase spot. And I began looking at irises for inclusion in the spring's planting, which will of course require more digging. It's nice to pull in the driveway, or glance out of an upstairs window and imagine the display next spring. Between the iris bed on the east side of the lawn, and this new bulb bed, this end of the street should be a lot more colorful next year.