Great Kick Off To The 2014 Gardening Season!

I have been waiting for this day since Spring officially started.  It is the warmest day since October! The temperatures are in the seventies here in South Dakota.  Granted the wind is blowing like crazy, the sun is shining and today I hereby claim the beginning of my gardening season!

Last year winter came way too early and stayed too long.  That said, we could still have snow.  In fact April 22, 2013 we had an enormous blizzard.  The best part is that the snow didn’t stay too long.  We South Dakotan call it a ‘Bump’ in the road.

Because winter came so early for us, cleaning up the yard didn’t get all the way done.  It wasn’t because I was procrastinating either.  Winter just showed up early.  Period.  What that meant was many of my annual plants were not pulled up from the ground, put in the cart and taken away.  In fact not all the leaves were raked and burned.

Today for some reason it doesn’t matter to me.  I simply have to pick up where I left off last fall.  I know that I did all that I could to expand the season of blooming flowers to enjoy and wanted them to live as long as they could.  I did everything else to prepare for winter.  I can say I have no regrets.

What is so exciting about today?  The top six inches of the ground have thawed!  I can now begin to pull up the annuals in my garden beds to make room for the next generation and class of 2014.  It’s not so bad either.  I am getting much needed exercise and can dream of the flowers I want to grow this season.

I have learned how to pace myself gardening 15 minutes at a time and hope others will join me.  I have been been taking this approach for the past three years.  I am finding it is paying off.  The reason it works is we are able to stay in the present moment.  For me I am able to hyper focus on the task at hand.  Before I know it, the 15 minutes are up.  I usually take a 5 minute break to drink some fluids and then begin again for another 15 minutes.

Soon you are able to measure how much you can get done in 15 minutes.  I am calculating by the first 15 minutes of gardening I did today will tell me realistically how long it is going to take to pull up the annuals throughout my gardens.  I have calculated 2 hours.  This includes putting in my cart and taken to form a pile that will later be burned.

Today is a great day!  I am getting closer to show you all my 2014 season of gardening.  I will be moving plants for a variety of a different look and add some spring bulbs.  This year I plan to have a strawberry bed and I know I want to grow some spaghetti squash.  Join me as I kick off today as the new gardening season of 2014!

Marilyn

Note:  Due to the wonderful spring weather today, no ‘Declutter Your Kitchen And Organize Your Pantry Event’ today.  (Do you blame me???)