April is a tortuous month for me.  While it is clear that spring has arrived in the garden, the weather still feels like winter with only an occasional sunny day here and there to try and cram in all the chores that need to be done.  I want, in the worst way, to clean up the beds, plant some cool season veggies, and mow the lawn.  But no, instead every day it’s the same old s#*t.  Hell, we had snow last Sunday and they are predicting only two dry days over the next two weeks.  I swear, I am going to lose it the next time someone tells me: “April showers bring May flowers”.  If you too are feeling cranky this month, trust me, I feel your pain...

Let’s flashback to the late 60’s and early 70’s…  I was so heavy into the organic gardening movement that I tried to convince my wife to name our first born either Mulch for a boy or Compostina for a girl (I’m sure you can imagine how that went over).  Over the last 50 years, the organic gardening movement has slowly taken root, and along with eating healthy, has become much more popular - especially with the younger generation.  Here is a quick overview of the essence of what organic gardening is all about…  

The world has changed from when I was a child.  Today, it seems like we are obsessed with cleanliness.  Nobody wants to get their hands dirty.  Nitrile gloves and hand sanitizers are standard fare everywhere you go.  God forbid that we might come into contact with “germs”.  The problem with this strategy is that all of this over-sanitizing is actually making us more sensitive to pathogens and one of the simplest solutions is to get some dirt on our hands or even in our mouths.  Dirt is actually good for us... 

After having so much fun last week talking about Robins, I thought, let’s explore tree frogs.  After all, what could go wrong?  Turns out there are a lot of interesting facts about these amphibians...

One of the many signs of spring, besides the annoying ritual of “springing ahead” with our clocks, is the return of flocks of American robins.  While I saw a couple of pairs back in February, it was just this week that I observed multiple numbers of them in my garden.  This got me thinking about how robins know when to return to the Pacific Northwest and after a little research I learned some intriguing facts...

Considering that it is still pretty darn cold out there, I thought it might be interesting to digress a bit and talk about how some plants go through the “change of life” as they grow up into adult plants.  Here goes nothing...

This recent spate of freezing temperatures has got me thinking about how some plants in my garden seem to be unfazed while others turn to mush.  I find it fascinating that the flowers on my witch hazel, Cornelian cherry, Sarcococca, and even my beloved winter daphne haven’t skipped a beat while the early blooms of the Christmas Cheer and Olive rhodies and Camellias have turned completely brown.  Some plants just seem to be better adapted to dealing with freezing temperatures.  Why is this?  

Considering all the rain that we have received lately, it is probably safe to assume that most of us have not completed the tasks I wrote about last week.  I managed to hoe out some of my shot weed and spent one hour pruning some shrubs, but that was about it.  Hopefully the rest of you were able to do a little better.  Just in case you have run out of chores, here are a few more to consider...

Okay folks, it’s time to get serious about gardening again.  Like I mentioned last time, it feela to me like we are going to have an early spring (unless it continues to rain like crazy and it stays dark, in which case it will be a late spring!  How’s that for some confusing information?)  Actually, when it is all said and done, spring never varies by more than a week or two, so I guess it is a moot point.  Here are a couple of areas to focus on for this week.  There will be more to come later…

Like last week, I am giving you permission to lay low and take it easy for the rest of this month, but watch out!  Based on what is happening in my garden, I am going to predict that we will have an early spring.  The snow drops growing under my Winter Hazel have been blooming for 3 weeks now and my beloved Winter Daphne is just about to break bud - both of these being 2 weeks ahead of schedule.  The mild winter is causing a lot of plants to wake up early and we just might need to be ready to do the same thing....