this year

there will probably not be much garden. My ankle still gets swollen if I do too much strenuous work, not to mention the lingering covid exhaustion. I can manage my household chores now, but adding yard work and gardening on top of that is still too much for me. Yesterday I managed to weed three of the garden beds, and that was it. This morning I cleared weeds from the mailbox spot and dead stems of salvia from last season, tidying up a bit around front yard. It needs a lot more work but I can only do a little bit at a time.

I might just do my potted herbs, and a few things that will take off later in spring (beans) or can go straight in the ground, don't need tending as seedlings (root crops). 

Problem is the deer. We still haven't got a fence built to keep them out. Contractors have 'ghosted' us three times now.

I've begun acclimated some of my plants to live outside again- putting the chives, bay laurel and cuban oregano out for a few hours each day, and the boston fern on the front porch when it's warm enough. The figs in the basement could start going out too, but I don't have the energy to haul them in/out and do the stairs twice a day, sigh.

But there are still small things of cheer, with the coming spring. My pot of stevia was looking quite sparse (and I hadn't sweetened my tea all winter), I was feeling sad that only two of the cuttings that took root survived. Then a bunch of new shoots came up from the older plant- 

and grew this much in just a week's time! I've remembered this time to pinch the tops off with the few few uses, to encourage it to grow more bushy instead of tall.