Early Spring Weeding

It's time to clear out this carpet of chickweed invading the lavender in the MOP bee garden! Another woman will be taking over the bed this year and growing paper plants. I'm so pleased that the garden will be put to good use by an ecologically minded artist.

First we raked the oak leaves off the bed and pitched them into the compost, then we got out the serious hand tools and tackled the dandelions. We saved some of the larger roots to dry for tea.

I think we'll move this culinary sage into the herb bed.

We found this beautiful beetle hiding in the soil under the lavender. I'll have to look it up in my bug books.

While we were just finishing up, the sun came up and there was a very odd little warm, misty shower at the same time. It was uncanny, but it made us both smile. It feels like such a relief to get back into the soil after the winter.

I'm happy to report I saw a honeybee gathering pollen in a crocus last Thursday. I love an early spring!