garden update-3/11

things are looking wonderful in the garden.  we have several new volunteers and for the first time since i began working in the demo garden in 2008, we may have enough volunteers to help us maintain things at a comfortable pace.  since we are basically doing spring cleaning and preparations for the tomato trials, not much is going on in the garden besides a lot of weeding!  be sure to check out the help wanted page to see what needs to be done if you are heading out to the garden.  in the mean time, take a look at the garden...

now that his spring tour has concluded, our rock star has returned.  this little guy was the toast of the lawn and garden show.  and if you made it out there, you understand why we are so glad to have him back home.  he made a bit of a spectacle of himself out at the fair grounds. little girls grabbing him, ladies asking about him constantly, repeatedly falling off the hay bale into the bottle garden...for now it is a life of sobriety while hanging out in the herb garden and, oh no, look at all of those bottles!!!

 speaking of bottles, look at the lovely bottle tree that shirley put in the herb garden.

since it is early spring, not much is happening and the plants aren't putting up much of a show so you have to look carefully to find the points of interest.

 tiny blue speedwell blooming in the main garden

 gorgeous purple sedum reaching for the sky in the green roof garden

 hellebores in the shade garden

 gotta love the grasses when they put on this kind of show in the berms of the rain garden

 virginia sweetspire in the rain garden is just beginning to bud

 the sage has overwintered beautifully in the herb garden

 here is the japanese parsley sending up new shoots

 also back from the lawn and garden show, the pallet garden.  while the pallet itself is new to the garden, many of the plants came from the block beds all over the main garden and this will be a new addition to our display on vertical gardening.

 look closely, the asparagus is sending up it's first stalks of the season

 finally, the cabbages are forming heads

 the red cabbage is still thinking about it!

 then again, so are the weeds-henbit in all of its glory

 kale sprouts in the lasagna garden-hurry up and grow so we can eat you

 newcomer to the shade garden-fumaria officials commonly called fumatory and is considered a medicinal herb

pretty but uninvited, it will be given the heave ho along with the rest of the weeds!