Bags and buds

I have been working in the garden on days when it has been warm enough to do it comfortably; that means anything above 39F°. Mostly I have been picking up the dread Honey Locust seed pods and cutting back Epimedium foliage. I've trimmed some of the Hellebore leaves, but they are easier to do anytime, compared to the Epimediums which need attention before those delicate flower stems emerge. 

Here's the same Epimedium bed as above but after cleanup below. I picked up all the pods as they decompose very slowly. I did, however, chop a lot of the Epimedium foliage off in ribbons to let it act as mulch. We no longer buy mulch because of the jumping worms. 

Here's a reminder of how dense the cover of Locust pods are in the spring if they don't get picked up in autumn. These are further along the path where it changes from the cut stone (above) to pine needles. 

This is the bed next to the path in the image above. At the moment it is hard to see the difference between the two areas. You need pretty strong plants to push through this mess.

We've given up composting except for household scraps, because we generate more than we are able to deal with in a reasonable amount of space. A number of times during the year, Mark loads his pickup truck with bags of yard debris. The bags on the right side are debris that never made it to the drop-off site last autumn due to our early snowfall. The bags on the left are pine needles raked up from friends' gardens that will be used to refresh the paths next month. 

I have filled about 8 big contractor bags with pods and general garden debris so far this spring. I tend to group them around the garden as I work; then ask Mark to move them for me. 

But this year our system is not going to work. The other day, I checked online to be sure the city was still operating the drop off sites due to the virus. It indicated they were open, so we were good to go. The next day — before we even had a chance to load the truck — they shut them down until further notice. So everywhere you look in the garden, there is debris.

And more debris. We are going to have to try to put it on the grassy edge of our front garden for the city to pick up and haul away. 

I went right out Monday morning and started moving most of this debris out to the curb when I saw the city crew pick up on the opposite of our street. Here is our first attempt to getting rid of garden waste this way. There are still a few bags from the fall left to deal with and I filled another bag with pods Monday after I got all this piled by the curb. But I felt good at getting this project started.

I will feel even better when the city takes it away. Maybe they will do it soon enough that the bulbs underneath it all will still manage to push out and bloom. 

Comments

[Kristin]

Our neighbors were loading their pickup this past weekend to take their waste to our drop off site, and we were going to borrow it when they got back. They called and said it was closing at 5, and wouldn't be open after that. We hustled all of our bags to the driveway and got them dropped off. Reading the sign, I think they are actually still going to be open during the week, when we usually have to pay, but are going to let city residents dump for free as we usually can on Saturdays. I haven't heard if the city is going to do their usual April pick up of yardwaste. It surprised me that getting rid of our many many bags of winter fallen oak leaves would be one of the most inconvenient things I've experienced so far with this virus. We are truly privileged.

[Kris P]

40F! You're one tough gardener! I can't even imagine working outside in that kind of cold. I guess we're also lucky to have weekly pickup of green waste as well as recyclables and regular trash. I am looking forward to composting some of the green waste onsite again, though.

[Lisa at Greenbow]

Our 'limb pile' is still open. I hope they don't close it. The city has stopped picking up recyclables. This makes so much more trash. UGH...
Those huge bags of locust pods are impressive. Too bad there isn't something a person could do with all those pods. There is a tree like this across the street from where I live. I see the pods there. They get mulched with with the mowing service the neighbor has.
My epimediums are now blooming. Sweet little things.

[Loree / danger garden]

While I love seeing those pods around town I can't imagine gardening with them! As for your pile of waste I hope the city does make it go away. Anything we leave at the curb has to be in the green yard waste bin, or paper yard waste bags we buy at the hardware store. They hold about 3/4 of what one of those black plastic bags holds.

[Beth @ PlantPostings]

Strange times. We usually drag our leaves into the woods on our property, where they decompose over time. We have a small compost bin, but we have to limit it during certain seasons. So far, we're still getting garbage and recycling pickup. I wonder if that will change.