Revving up for Spring

We're trying to get psyched up for spring and was pleasantly surprised to see a display of Burpee seeds this weekend. Shouldn't be too surprised as the valentine candy was out the next day after Christmas. To keep our spirits up, we selected a packet of Burpee Pickler cucumbers, as that promises heavy yields. We do have our spot picked out with more sun for our cucumbers this year. Also, we ran across the sunflower selection and picked Chianti Hybrid, which looks beautiful (burgundy red) on the packet, and the Mammoth, which produces edible seeds (looking out for the birds here). This must be what came up last spring from around our bird feeder. That was so much fun to watch grow and then leave for the birds. The last packet was of the Mexican sunflower, Torch Tithonia. From the picture, we believe it to be the kind of flower we see in the landscapes of the local Mexican restaurants and is so pretty and "fiery."

Also included in our spending spree was the purchase of a couple of rolls of lawn edging within which we plan to confine our semi-raised beds. This will require several more rolls, but interspersed along with regular shopping, maybe it won't break the bank. At some point, one has to decide if the return is worth the investment, but in this case, we think it might be. We don't want to see our hard work washed away with the first heavy rain. Also, unless we run into another close-out on landscape timbers, we probably won't be buying those in bulk.

Our outside chores are pretty much confined to pruning the old apple tree that succumbed to the freeze/drought last year. At least we are getting most of the dead limbs cut away and will decide later if the entire tree goes this spring. There goes the resting place for zillions of hummingbirds and others, and a convenient hangy-downy place for bird feeders and anything that needs off the ground. Temp today is 45, but the sun is shining, so that may entice us to do our power walk around the garden!