Tulips and leaf buds

Spring has advances in leaps and bounds now that the temperature went from a couple degrees to 20C in one night or so. Tulips in our yard are happily blooming, birches have a faint green about them, apple trees have buds and cherry trees in the neighboring yards are blooming. Our bushes have little leaves and the butterbur a few flowers. Rhubarb is growing nicely. Wood anemonies are at their best.

Birds and flowers

I absolutely love spring. When the first (and only, as far as I know) crocus opens its flower in our yard, when trees start to get their little buds, when an orchestra of birds chirp and wagtails, starlings and blakcbirds hop on our lawn, when rhubarb pushes its wrinkly sprouts through the still cold dirt, when sun feels warm and wonderful on exposed skin. 

Rototilling

The previous owner of our house used to have a garden, used to grow poatoes. The plot has been uncultivated for the past five years. We wanted to have a proper garden there again, so last weekend we started a rented rototiller and began to turn the ground. It was hard work with the almost 10cm of hard grass roots and the soil heavily clay. My husband worked real hard and I helped as much as I could, and after eight hours of work, the job was done. 32m2 of  lawn turned into a garden patch. A couple of little birds were keeping us company, enjoying the little creatures that surfaced as we turned the ground over.

We immediately ploughed it too, and planted the first plants there too: radishes, broccoli and onions. Some potatoes will go into the ground soon too, and hopefully our zucchinis, cucumbers etc. will start soon - or we might just go and get some plants from the store.

Next to our garden patch, the rhubarbs have grown flowers, knapweeds have opened most of theirs, whereas the bergenias have dropped theirs. Lilacs are plenty in our yard and full of sweet smelling flowers now.

There's daisies growing next to our house where tulips used to grow, and chives in the box have flowers. And lilies of the valley have opened their flowers in the forest.

Bushes in our garden

We've got a couple of quite big currently blooming berry bushes in our yard. The other one I have identified as red currant, the other one is gooseberry. I am thrilled :) Both make excellent jelly, red currant makes real good whipped cream of wheat, and gooseberries I have loved since I was a kid. I love our yard!

We also have a small patch of rhubarb growing in our yard. Last week I cut some and made some real good rhubarb pie to take to my grandmother for her birthday.