Spring Cleanup - and More Snow!

Sunday afternoon was wonderful, calm and mostly blue skies. So I went outside to do some Spring garden cleanup.

First, I did one hour of cleanup in the front yard, so the kids could bicycle and skooter (hmmm, what is the verb? to skoot?) around the driveway. My usual cleanup rate is one large clear bag per hour, and sure enough, I filled my bag in one hour. At that point, the kids had retreated into the house again, so I happily went into the back yard, where the real gardening takes place.

Seven of my twelve fruit trees are planted within little circles cut into our upper lawn. In all but the last 2 we bought last year, I've edged the circles with flat river rock. A few of them are underplanted with daffodils and tulips, for a bit of colour in early Spring, when the trees themselves are just bare twigs.

I pulled the weeds that had popped up in the circles. Including a very annoying creeping/running grass, which is great in the lawn (which is where I think it originates), but is terrible to try to remove from the garden beds. Then I spread some fresh compost around each of the fruit trees. The few with bulbs poking through the soil, I topped with some bark mulch also.

I tried to take a few photos of my work, but after 3 shots, the memory in the digital camera (I was using my daughter's) was full. Anyhow, this is my Rainier Cherry, underplanted in small daffodils:

This is my Frost Peach which we just planted last spring. I have yet to edge or underplant it:

Same story with my Morello (sour) cherry:

The other trees I didn't get a chance to take photos of, are the Fuji Persimmon, the mystery Apple, Lapin (red) Cherry (underplanted in tulips and daffs), and Bartlett Pear (underplanted in tulips).

As I worked, the bright blue/white sky had gotten quite dark. I was already getting tired (after an additional 1 1/2 hr in the back yard) anyhow, so I was amused to see small flakes of snow coming down.

But then they kept coming. And coming. Here is a photo later in the afternoon, of the back yard (where all my work under the trees has been completely covered!):

And the front yard:

It sure was pretty, especially how it hung in the trees, making them white. But by this morning, when there was 3 inches of it to shovel, and neighbours struggling to get their cars up the hill, it left us all saying "Enough is enough!" We've had MORE than our fair share of snow this Winter. We are ready for Spring!