A very satisfactory day

Thelma is recouping from a hip replacement.  Betsy is staying with her at least until May 12 (the post-op visit), and I help with chores one evening during the week, and Saturday and Sunday morning.  So this morning was chore morning, and then  "restorative coffee", while we despaired of the weather.  The forecast had been for mostly sunny and the best we could make out was mostly cloudy.

But it turned bright, sunny and warm in the late morning and I spent the afternoon gardening.  I set up another 3' x 18" raised bed for BEETS and a couple of basil plants, next to the bed that keeps me in lettuce all summer.  Then (since raised beds need to be filled with soil) I decided to see how much compost I had.

I am a lazy composter.  I have two big round bins, without covers, and an informal small pile way back in the yard.  I think these are basically for leaves, which I don't really have) but all spring and summer I pile in horse manure, plant stalks, lawn clippings (when the grass grows too thick to leave the clippings on the lawn) and kitchen waste.  I throw in some dirt from time to time. In August I take the bins down, turn the piles, and put the bins back up.  That's it.  In the spring I remove the top layer of plant junk, dig out the compost from the bottom, and put the remainder of the pile back together.

Last week I'd taken down one bin and put the compost around some struggling lilacs and some plants that are by the shed. This is an area that isn't really a garden but could use attention from time to time.  So I only had the other bin, and the small pile in the back.

Wow! There was enough compost in the back pile to fill the new raised bed!  And there was enough compost from the other round bin to make an impressive soil improvement in the veggie part of the garden, with some left over for the flowers!  I was surprised, because my laziness doesn't serve the garden well most of the time. 

Now I'm excited. The lettuce survived the snow and is coming along pretty well.  I'll start some spinach and beets now and transplant the parsley that's been over-wintering in the house. The bean seeds go in May 15, and I'll buy the tomato plants to put in around Memorial Day. I might try some Swiss Chard this year. If I work my way through the flower beds an hour every day after work and several hours each weekend, the place should be in decent shape by the end of May.

Unless it snows again.